SERMONS 





CHARLES MANSON TAGGART, 



LATE COLLEAGUE PASTOR OP THE UNITARIAN CHURCH 
IN CHARLESTON, S. C. 



BOSTON: 
CROSBY, NICHOLS, AND COMPANY. 
CHARLESTON: S. G. COURTENAY & CO. 
LOUISVILLE: MAXWELL & CO. 
NASHVILLE: W. T. BERRY & CO. 
1856. 



WITH A MEMOIR, 



BY 



JOHN H. HEYWOOD. 




[OT co»o* , •• , 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 
Croset, Nichols, and Company, 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



CAMBRIDGE: 
.METCALF AND COMPANY. PRINTERS ■ TO THE UNIVERSITY. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

MEMOIR vii 

DISCOURSE I. 

RELIGION A LIFE, NOT A SPECIAL EXPERIENCE 1 

DISCOURSE II. 

A RELIGION TO LIVE BY, THE BEST RELIGION TO DIE BY .17 

DISCOURSE III. 

RELIGION AND MORALITY . 32 

DISCOURSE IV. 

SPIRITS IN THE CHURCH . 47 

DISCOURSE V. 

THE FIRST SIN. — ADAM AND HIS POSTERITY. — THE DOC- 
TRINE OF THE COVENANT WITH ADAM 04 

DISCOURSE VI. 

THE IMMORAL TENDENCIES OF THE COMMON DOCTRINE OF 

VICARIOUS ATONEMENT 80 



iv CONTENTS. 



DISCOURSE VII. 

FORGIVENESS OF SIN . 96 

DISCOURSE VIII. 

LAW OF RETRIBUTION 110 



DISCOURSE IX. 

FALLACIOUS REASONING. — JESUS AS JUDGE OF THE WORLD 125 

DISCOURSE X. 



TERMS AND PHRASES. — UNIVERSAL SALVATION. — UNIVER- 
SAL RESTORATION. — REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS . . 141 

DISCOURSE XI. 

THE BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS ) OR GOD AND THE 

DEVIL 155 

DISCOURSE XII. 

USE AND MEANING OF THE TERMS DEVIL AND SATAN IN 

SCRIPTURE 172 

DISCOURSE XIII. 

GOD AND NATURE 191 

DISCOURSE XIV. 

IS SUFFERING NECESSARY? 206 

DISCOURSE XV. 

THOUGHTS CONNECTED WITH THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. — THE 

OBJECT OF HUMAN LIFE 220 



CONTENTS. V 
DISCOURSE XVI. 

THE POWER Or MIND. — SOME GREAT THOUGHT 234 

DISCOURSE XVII. 

CONFLICTS OF FAITH, — IN THE SOUL AND IN THE CHURCH 249 

DISCOURSE XVIII. 

FUTURE LIFE. — IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 262 

DISCOURSE XIX. 

FUTURE LIFE. — IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 277 

DISCOURSE XX. 

FUTURE LIFE. — IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL . . .T\ . . 291 

DISCOURSE XXI. 

REFLECTIONS ON DEATH, LIFE, AND FUTURITY 304 

DISCOURSE XXII. 

THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, WITH REFERENCE 

TO THE WORLD 318 

DISCOURSE XXIII. 

THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, WITH REFERENCE 

TO CHRISTIANITY 333 



DISCOURSE XXIV. 

WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY 1 WHO IS A UNITARIAN 1 348 



vi 



CONTENTS. 



DISCOURSE XXV. 

THE MIND WHICH WAS IN JESUS. — DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 

THE CHRIST AND WHAT IS CALLED CHRISTIANITY . .371 

DISCOURSE XXVI. 

USES OF THE COMMUNION 384 

DISCOURSE XXVII. 

THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. — UNITY AND DIVERSITY. — 

THE SPIRIT OF DENOMINATION 398 



MEMOIR. 



MEMOIR. 



A brief sketch of the life of the writer of this 
volume of Sermons may not be uninteresting to the 
reader. 

Charles Manson Taggart was born in the city 
of Montreal, Lower Canada, October 31, 1821. The 
greater portion of his childhood and youth was spent 
in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to which city the family 
removed while he was yet very young. His parents 
belonged to the " Old World." Their early home 
was in the county of Antrim, not far from Belfast, in 
the North of Ireland. His mother he lost in early 
childhood, and for a series of years he was under the 
immediate care of his grandmother, a warm-hearted, 
devout, excellent woman. When Charles was ten 
years of age his father married again. Of her who 
thus came to hold the mother's place, he always 
spoke with affection and respect, and by her his 
memory is fondly, reverently cherished. Very beau- 
tiful is the picture which she presents of him in his 
childhood and youth, when, by his cheerful and con- 
stant obedience, his thoughtful care for the younger 
b 



X 



MEMOIR. 



members of the family, his self-control, his love of 
peace, and his stainless purity, which never permitted 
profane or vulgar words to soil his lips, he made his 
presence a joy and a blessing to the home. Similar 
testimony to hers is that borne by one of the dearest 
companions of his youth and early manhood, Wil- 
liam Getty, Esq., formerly of Pittsburg, now of Phil- 
adelphia: — " We were boys together. I think that 
he was a year or so older than myself. We went to 
school together when we were eight or nine years of 
age, and from this time until the summer of 1846 we 
were intimate friends. In his boyhood he was al- 
ways kind, generous, and amiable ; he always had 
full control of his feelings. I do not remember of 
his ever striking a school-mate, or even coming 
to harsh words. He was attentive to his studies, 
and was never behind his class. At home he was 
dutiful and obedient. Very early in life he lost his 
mother, and her memory was ever dear to him. 
Among his step-brothers and sisters he showed the 
same even temper and kindness that characterized 
him at a more advanced age. His affection for his 
grandmother was very strong." 

From the dawn of his mental powers our friend 
loved knowledge, and gladly availed himself of every 
opportunity of intellectual improvement which was 
afforded him. His father, a man of active mind and 
a lover of learning, desired to have Charles thor- 
oughly educated, but straitened pecuniary circum- 
stances prevented him from giving to his son the 
educational privileges which he would gladly have 
given. The privileges enjoyed, therefore, were few, 



MEMOIR. 



xi 



being principally such as were afforded by the pub- 
lic schools of Pittsburg. Fortunately, however, 
mental progress and the acquisition of knowledge 
are not necessarily nor exclusively dependent upon 
the number or greatness of privileges enjoyed. The 
mind intent on knowledge will obtain it. If it has 
not opportunities offered, it will create them. We 
commonly speak of men who have acquired valua- 
ble information, or have developed their power of 
thought without the enjoyment of the facilities pre- 
sented in well-endowed institutions of learning, as 
self-made men, in distinction from men who have en- 
joyed these facilities. The term is not well applied ; 
the distinction drawn is not just. The privileges 
presented in an educational institution of high order 
are by no means to be undervalued, but it is not the 
possession of such privileges that makes the scholar 
or the thinker. Every real thinker, every true scholar, 
is essentially a self-made man, that is, a man who 
by wise, faithful, constant use expands his powers, 
and by persevering industry and profound medita- 
tion makes the treasures of learning his own. Such 
a man, above all others, appreciates and is grateful 
for the aid which libraries and universities afford ; 
but if he cannot enjoy their aid, he does, and does 
well, without it. As certainly will he who has a 
thirst for knowledge, the sacred instinct of thought, 
find knowledge, as the bee will find the flower-con- 
cealed honey. 

This instinct our friend possessed in full measure. 
He was a student by nature, and had keen delight 



xii 



MEMOIR. 



in the exercise of thought and the pursuit of knowl- 
edge. The companion, whose words have been al- 
ready quoted, says : " As he grew up to mature years, 
his mind sought after literary attainments. When 
quite a young man, he entered a wholesale grocery 
store, and gave entire satisfaction to his employers ; 
while thus engaged, his evenings were devoted to 
study and to attendance at the meetings of the Mar- 
shall Literary Institute, of which he was an active 
member, and of the ' Baldwin,' of which he was an 
honorary member. The exercises of these associa- 
tions were well calculated to develop the talents of 
their members, and our deceased friend stood in the 
foremost rank. As a presiding officer he was calm 
yet firm, and succeeded in maintaining good order ; 
as a writer he was extremely careful, and his pro- 
ductions always seemed finished ; as a debater he 
could grow warm, and as the interest increased, he 
became truly eloquent. His natural inclination was 
for literary pursuits, — in these he excelled." 

The friend, who has given us this information in 
regard to the intellectual tendencies and culture of 
his beloved companion, speaks in a deeply interesting 
manner of his religious experience. " His religious 
feelings were developed at a very early period of his 
life. We were both brought up in the same church, 
and attended the Sabbath school together; For a 
long time we were members of a Bible class taught 
on Sabbath evenings by Rev. J. R. Kerr, long since 
deceased, for whom our departed brother cherished 
the kindest feelings, and under whose ministry he 



MEMOIR. 



xiii 



sat with great pleasure, and, I have no doubt, much 
profit. He took delight in religious things, and was 
fond of theological discussions. We often differed 
on doctrinal points. The natural turn of his thoughts 
qualified him for controversy, and he engaged in it 
with great relish ; yet throughout he ever showed an 
even temper, never permitting himself to be led away 
by the heat of discussion." It is very delightful in 
these days of sectarian narrowness and exclusiveness 
to meet with a Christian who can cherish warm af- 
fection and express profound respect for one whose 
theological opinions differ widely, even radically, from 
his own. Thus speaks the warm-hearted man in a 
subsequent part of his valuable communication, and 
his earnest, affectionate words do credit alike to his 
own Christian spirit and to the spirit of his beloved 
companion: — "Memory freshens as I think of the 
past, and it seems all too like a dream. The inti- 
macy at one time was almost as tender as that be- 
tween man and wife. For months we Avere together, 
talked with each other, wrote and counselled togeth- 
er, and, as far as intercourse on earth is concerned, 
we were as one. No brother was nearer or dearer. 
My friend has gone, the friend of early days, when 
the hearts of both were tender and susceptible of 
good impressions. For his memory I cherish pro- 
found respect. Although we differed on doctrinal 
points, still I can only believe that he has gone up 
higher, that he is among the throng that surround 
the throne of the Lamb. May it be your lot and 
mine to meet him there." 

b* 



xiv 



MEMOIR. 



Would that the spirit of piety and charity which 
prompted the utterance of these touching words 
were prevalent in the Christian world. Then the 
soul-union for which the Saviour fervently prayed 
would be effected and enjoyed among his followers, 
and earth would have a foretaste of the peace and 
bliss which belong to the world of candor and har- 
mony, where all know as they are known, and where 
perfect love casteth out all injustice, as well as all 
fear. 

The family of Mr. Taggart belong to the Presby- 
terian Church. " He was brought up," to quote the 
language of one of his relatives, a minister of that 
church, " a Presbyterian of the strictest sect, and 
his abandoning the religion of his fathers was a 
source of unspeakable sorrow to all his friends." 
The writer probably intended to say, that his aban- 
doning the theological system of his fathers was a 
source of sorrow ; for it is not to be supposed that he 
thought that one whose heart was full of reverence 
and gratitude, and whose life attested his loyalty 
to conscience and God, ever abandoned " religion." 
It is unfortunate that, even in the carelessness of 
common conversation or of epistolary intercourse, 
"religion " and theological or ecclesiastical systems 
should be spoken of as identical. As well might we 
seek to identify God's infinite ocean-reservoir and 
some petty cistern formed by human hands, as to 
identify religion with any system which man has 
devised or arranged. To depart from the theological 
opinions of one's fathers is one thing, to depart from 



MEMOIR. 



XV 



their religion is another and a very different thing. 
That Mr. Taggart never abandoned the religion of 
his fathers his life attests ; that he rejected their 
theological system, is true ; and it is also true, that 
he never was more faithful to the religion of his fa- 
thers than when he gave up their theological system, 
for he gave it up, because, as he conscientiously be- 
lieved, reverence for the Divine word and obedience 
to the Divine will commanded and compelled him so 
to do ; and reverential obedience to the word and 
will of God surely was the essential element in the 
religion of his fathers, as it is in the religion of all 
devout Christians. 

It is no light thing for a young man to depart from 
the theological opinions in which he has been edu- 
cated, and which have become almost sacred to him 
through their association with the church and the 
home. When and how was Mr. Taggart led to 
adopt views widely different from those in which he 
had been carefully instructed ? This is an interest- 
ing question, and perhaps the best answer which can 
be given is furnished in a brief extract from a let- 
ter written by an uncle of Mr. Taggart, a venerable 
minister of the Presbyterian Church, who, while he 
frankly says, " I cannot think that there is anything 
in the Unitarian system, as far as I understand it, 
that meets the wants of sinners dead in trespasses 
and sins," and " I do not think that his writings 
will advance the cause of true religion " ; yet cheer- 
fully attests to the " irreproachable moral character 
from youth " of his truth-loving, manly, outspoken 
relative. 



xvi 



MEMOIR. 



The extract is as follows: — "In a letter to me, 
dated July 16, 1846 (which was some time after he 
went to study at MeadviUe, Pa.), he uses the follow- 
ing words : ' Ever since I have been capable of hold- 
ing any views for myself, they have been the same 
as now, only time, observation, and experience have 
strengthened and confirmed them. True, I tried to 
believe the Calvinistic system of dogmas, but the 
very effort to do so, by examining for myself the 
grounds on which they stood, convinced me of their 
error.' In speaking of his theological views in the 
same letter, he says : c I held them long before I 
deliberately concluded to state them to any one, nor 
till by careful examination of the Scripture (and the 
Scripture alone, for I had nothing else) I had satis- 
fied my own mind.' It appears, therefore, that our 
friend, who has finished his course, never changed 
his religious views ; he had tried to embrace other 
c dogmas,' but failed in the attempt." 

The mental and religious history laid open to our 
inspection in these few lines is deeply interesting. 
Here is a young man, religiously inclined from child- 
hood, a member of a family connected with a church 
which holds the Calvinistic system of theology in all 
its rigidness and stern severity, faithfully indoctri- 
nated at home, in the Bible class, and at the church, 
in the distinctive principles of that system, heartily 
desirous of accepting the system if he can, and ear- 
nestly, constantly, studying the Scriptures to find it 
substantiated in them ; who, notwithstanding his de- 
sires, his efforts, and his prayers, is unable to discern 



MEMOIR. XVU 

proof of its correctness in the sacred volume, and 
who, unaided and alone, with no Unitarian books or 
friends to bias his mind, after long-protracted and at 
times agonizing study, — agonizing, for he shrank 
from results which he knew must separate him wide- 
ly from nearest and dearest friends, — came deliber- 
ately to the conclusion, that the Bible presents views 
utterly irreconcilable with the theological system of 
John Calvin. Such studies and struggles, such reso- 
lute acceptance of unwelcome conclusions, and calm 
determination to avow them and abide by them, im- 
ply, if not extraordinary mental power, extraordinary 
mental independence, and heroic fidelity to truth. 
The man who can thus think for himself, and who 
has the courage thus to think for himself, who feels 
that necessity is laid upon him to go wherever truth 
may lead him, may be as far from the kingdoms 
established by any sectarian chiefs or theological 
sovereigns, as John Milton or the sturdiest republi- 
can in Cromwell's army was from the kingdom of 
Charles Stuart ; but he certainly is not far from the 
kingdom of Him who said, " I am a king. To this 
end was I born, and for this cause came I into the 
world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. 
Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." 

For a young man, to whom thought and study 
were so essential, and whose mind was, as his most 
intimate friend states, for years " on one object, — 
the ministry," — a professional life would seem the 
legitimate, almost the necessary life. But, as has 
been already intimated, contracted pecuniary circum- 



XV111 



MEMOIR. 



stances prevented him from entering upon the course 
to which all his mental and moral tendencies led him. 
He accordingly at the age of seventeen entered a 
wholesale store, in which he continued four years. 
To the duties which then and there lay before him, 
he devoted himself with conscientious fidelity. He 
brought his intelligence, integrity, and habits of in- 
dustry and perseverance to bear upon the work which 
he had undertaken, and which, therefore, was accom- 
plished to the entire satisfaction of his employers. 
But though faithful to mercantile life while in it, he 
never found it congenial to his tastes. His treasure 
was elsewhere, and where his treasure was, his heart 
was also. At the end of four years, therefore, he 
gave up his situation, and for a period remained at 
home, quietly pursuing his studies there. But this 
course could not be continued long. His self-respect 
and his thoughtfulness for others would not permit 
him to be dependent upon relatives, who, however 
kind, were not in a condition, as he felt, to justify 
him in adding to their necessary expenses. He must 
labor in some way to procure the means of support. 
After stating his thoughts and feelings to his father, 
he left home, to go he knew not whither, but in full 
confidence that a kind Providence would open the 
way of duty and direct his steps therein. He went 
on board a steamboat at Pittsburg, and sailed down 
the Ohio, with barely money enough in his pocket 
to defray his expenses, but with heart rich in hope. 
In the course of a few days he reached Louisville, 
Kentucky, where he engaged himself temporarily 



MEMOIR. 



xix 



as clerk in a store. Here he remained for a few 
months, and then, having obtained letters of intro- 
duction to prominent merchants in New Orleans, he 
sailed down the Ohio and Mississippi to that ever- 
attractive, ever-disappointing city, where many find 
fortunes and many find graves, but few find homes. 
There he spent a few weeks, but not succeeding in 
obtaining employment, he determined to go to St. 
Louis. There also his search was unsuccessful. 
While there, he heard of a school in a small town 
in Missouri, which was in need of a teacher. He 
at once went on a boat bound up the Mississippi, 
stopped at the landing nearest the place of his des- 
tination, and, with carpet-bag in hand, walked to the 
town, twenty-five miles distant. For three months 
he remained there, faithfully discharging his duties 
as teacher. At the end of this time, becoming wea- 
ried with the monotony of his life, and seeing no 
prospect of accomplishing anything for himself, 
either pecuniarily, or, what was to him of infinitely 
more importance, in the way of mental improvement, 
he resigned his office, and, on foot again, made his 
way to the river. He took passage on the first boat 
that came, and went to Quincy, Illinois, in which 
beautiful town — made sacred to hearts of Unitarian 
Christians by the memory of that admirable man 
and devoted pastor, George Moore — and its vicinity 
he remained for a little while, in the hope of becom- 
ing a teacher in a school, or of obtaining some other 
congenial means of support. Not succeeding, he 
determined to go to St. Louis again. For hours he 



XX 



MEMOIR. 



sat upon the bank of the Mississippi, waiting for a 
boat, and as he waited meditating in seriousness, 
but not in despondency, upon his past history, and 
his probable career in the future. At last a boat 
draws near, and he gladly goes on board. Little 
dreamed the officers of that boat of the deep thoughts, 
the elevated purposes, which filled the mind and 
sustained the heart of the unassuming man who 
then became passenger on it. In St. Louis he re- 
mained for a few days, and then took passage on a 
boat bound up the Ohio. He stopped at the town 
of Owensboro', Daviess Co., Ky., where he at once 
was engaged as teacher in the Seminary, and where 
he met with fair success, having a good number of 
pupils, and being well esteemed as an instructor. 

It was in this town that my acquaintance with 
this beloved brother began. In May, 1845, I spent 
a few days there, and preached several times. In the 
audience I observed a young man of intellectual 
countenance, who appeared to listen with close at- 
tention and deep interest. Struck with his appear- 
ance and manner, I sought an introduction, and con- 
versation only confirmed my impression. I made 
inquiries of friends in Owensboro', and learned from 
them that the character of the teacher, as far as they 
knew, was in harmony with his appearance. Soon 
after returning to Louisville, I addressed a letter to 
Mr. Taggart, in which I asked him if he would go 
to Meadville and pursue a course of theological study 
there. After due deliberation, he replied that he 
would go. He said that at first he had hesitated 



MEMOIR. 



xxi 



about acceding to the proposition, because of the 
pain which he knew the fact of his becoming a 
preacher of views regarded as heretical and danger- 
ous would cause his relatives, but that, on reflec- 
tion, it seemed to him clearly his duty to what he 
esteemed truth to prepare himself for an efficient 
advocacy of it. 

In September of that year he entered the Theo- 
logical School, and, as he long afterwards told me, 
with doubt and misgiving. Brought up among 
those who considered it a duty to be exclusive in 
matters pertaining to religion, who regarded liber- 
alism as synonymous with latitudinarianism, and 
viewed it with extreme aversion, not only as being 
indicative of indifference to vital religion, but as be- 
ing the very essence of irreligion, and who therefore 
thought it right by creeds and formularies to fence 
in religion ; educated in a community which held 
most rigidly to the sternest doctrines, and which per- 
mitted, or at least encouraged, mental freedom only 
within certain prescribed limits, it was to him a 
cause of surprise, an incredible thing, that any min- 
ister and congregation of Christians could offer the 
opportunity of theological education to a young man, 
without requiring of him a promise or pledge that 
he would become a preacher and advocate of the 
opinions held by them. So deep-seated was his 
conviction, not only of the improbability, but of the 
impossibility, of any religious man or denomination 
suffering the individual mind to pursue its inquiries 
in perfect mental freedom, freedom restrained only by 
c 



XXII 



MEMOIR. 



a sense of constant and direct accountability to God, 
that for a year he anxiously and suspiciously scruti- 
nized the letters which he received from me, and also 
the actions of the Professors at the Theological School, 
to discover intimations of the plan which he was 
sure we must have of entrapping him, and in some 
way, indirectly if not directly, of interfering with his 
mental and spiritual freedom, and making him, wheth- 
er he would or no, an instrument for accomplishing 
some sectarian end. Especially desirous was he to 
discover the hidden motive which prompted me to 
show an interest and place confidence in him, — a 
stranger, — for he thought it an almost, inconceivable 
thing that gratitude for the enjoyment of educational 
privileges and of liberal views of religion should be 
of itself sufficient motive to prompt one to offer sim- 
ilar privileges to any mind and heart which seemed 
well fitted to appreciate them. But by the end of 
the year he was convinced not only that no ulterior 
motive had prompted the invitation to him to go to 
Meadville, but that that institution was in reality 
what it professed to be, and that its Professors, whom, 
after becoming thoroughly acquainted with them, 
he never ceased to regard with warm affection and 
profound esteem, were perfectly true to the princi- 
ples of Christian liberty which they avowed. 

For four years he remained at Meadville, pursuing 
his studies with an ardor that never abated, with a 
perseverance which was never wearied. He was 
born to be a student. He loved study for its own 
sake. Difficulties only aroused him to new exertions. 



MEMOIR. 



xxiii 



He had keen enjoyment in the exercise of his own 
powers, and he appreciated well the results which 
other earnest thinkers reached in the exercise of 
theirs. Of his life in the Theological School, of his 
habits of study, of the impression which he made 
upon his fellow-students, and the place which he held 
in their esteem, the following letter from his beloved 
friend, Rev. R. R. Shippen, pastor of the Unitarian 
Church in Chicago, 111., presents a beautiful picture. 

"My dear Friend: — 

"I gladly comply with your request to furnish a 
chapter of Mr. Taggart's preparation for the minis- 
try at Meadville. Most happy am I to pay to his 
memory that grateful tribute of affection. Yet our 
uneventful student life furnishes little material of 
interest to relate. Its interest was chiefly in our 
friendly companionship, and our studies, plans, and 
hopes in common, investing it with a quiet and 
peculiar charm that cannot be described. It all rises 
before me now as a beautiful picture ; but rapidly 
vanishing into the past as a delightful dream. 

" It was in the autumn of 1845 that Mr. Taggart 
first came to Meadville. The Theological School 
had been in existence only one year; so that there 
were but two classes, and these were small. The 
fresh novelty of its establishment in the quiet village 
had not passed away. The coming of so many re- 
ligious young men into a s-mall parish was an im- 
portant addition to the church, and infused new 
spirit into our rather monotonous social life. Into a 



xxiv 



MEMOIR. 



few hospitable homes, all the students were cordially 
welcomed, and admitted with little restraint and for- 
mality. Beside this, the high anticipations of friends 
abroad for the success of the School caused each 
additional student to be hailed with joyful interest. 

" One other fact combined with these to make each 
individual a marked man. It would be difficult, I 
think, to collect together a band of twenty candi- 
dates for the ministry of more heterogeneous mate- 
rial than were assembled there. Our ages ranged 
from sixteen to thirty-five. We came from every 
quarter of the Northern States, from Maine to Illi- 
nois. Even Germany, England, and Wales were rep- 
resented among us. We had members of five dif- 
ferent denominations. Our advantages of culture 
and experience of life ranged from the privileges of 
Boston schools and society down to zero. None 
were graduates of any college, except of the great 
American institution of practical life, the people's 
university. But in this no two had pursued the same 
course, or had been drilled alike. One came from 
the woods, and another from the prairies ; one from 
a workshop, and another from his home in a New 
England village. One had taught school, another 
had been several years preaching with the gift of 
tongues, if not of wisdom. Some had already had 
rough encounters in the battle of life, others were 
just starting, utterly unsophisticated and ignorant of 
the world and its ways. Some had known nothing 
but books and study all their days, and others could 
not read or write a sentence of English without 



MEMOIR. 



XXV 



blundering. It was a motley group, full of intense 
individuality. No affectation of eccentricity was 
needed to distinguish any man from his comrades. 
Every one rejoiced in his own original style of speech, 
dress, manners, and type of manhood. Yet one com- 
mon motive and aim filled all with kindred enthusi- 
asm, and a hearty religious sympathy harmonized 
all incongruities. It was beautiful to behold how 
ready all were for mutual help, and how generously 
each judged his brother's faults and failings. A 
genial laugh, never embittered by self-conceit or con- 
tempt, was the only, but always effective, criticism. 
Thus the varied experience and diverse characteris- 
tics only imparted richness to our discussions, and 
perennial freshness to all our intercourse. 

" Charles came among us as marked a character as 
any in all the variety. No just comparison is pos- 
sible ; yet all would admit that his talents and cul- 
ture were of the first order. His early Calvinistic 
education, with his change of views by his own in- 
dependent study and personal conviction, — his few 
months of school-teaching and study of law, giving 
him superior mental discipline, — his wanderings in 
the South and West, giving him an observation of 
phases of life unknown to the rest of us, — all com- 
bined in a contribution of original experience pecu- 
liar to himself. In debate and conference-meeting 
he immediately took high rank, as one of the most 
interesting of our number. His early practice in a 
young men's literary society in Pittsburg enabled 
him to express himself fluently, and *with elegance 
' c* 



xxvi 



MEMOIR. 



and precision, in extempore speech. Yet when any 
part was assigned him, he always came prepared. 
He never would speak against time, and always 
manifested a restless impatience when others talked 
only to occupy the hour. His extreme conservatism 
brought him into perpetual antagonism and frequent 
warm discussion with the radical reformers around 
him. And when sometimes a criticism of Southern 
institutions would blend the people in indiscriminate 
denunciation, Mr. Taggart would rise in their de- 
fence with a chivalric enthusiasm worthy of Clay or 
Calhoun. This antagonism sometimes carried him 
to the other extreme, and betrayed him into unquali- 
fied praise. But none ever questioned his conscien- 
tiousness, and I never knew him to transcend the 
courtesies of debate, for an instant to lose his calm 
self-possession, or to utter a hasty word that he could 
wish to be recalled. Though he sometimes stood 
alone, his courage never failed in maintaining his 
own independence, or advocating the most unpopu- 
lar opinion. Nor did his pleasant spirit ever suffer 
the sharpest encounter to mar the prevailing har- 
mony and peace. 

" During the first year, however, I saw but little of 
him socially. The rest of the students boarded in a 
club, near together and near the School. Charles 
resided at a distance, in a family of Methodist friends 
or relatives, and was thus brought little in contact 
with us except in school hours. He came and went 
directly and alone to the exercises, and home again, 
and visited but little. He was studying hard. He 



MEMOIR. 



xxvii 



would, as he afterwards told me, often study all 
day, and for the better part of the night, and for 
days never leave his room except for recitation. His 
countenance was pale and sedate, and wore a grave 
and anxious expression. The students thought him 
cold and reserved, and little suspected the fund of 
humor latent within him, and afterwards revealed. 
He was often low-spirited, and suffered in a sense 
of loneliness and want of sympathy, till it seemed as 
if a morbid feeling approaching to misanthropy were 
stealing over him. Whether it was the anxious 
thoughts natural to the entrance on our high voca- 
tion, or his loneliness with too severe study and 
close confinement, or other causes that affected him 
chiefly, I know not. But probably all these com- 
bined, with mutual reaction. 

" It was in the year 1848-49, the last year of our 
course, that I knew him best. We were then class- 
mates and intimate friends. The year previous I 
had been absent from home and the School; and in 
the intimacy of frequent correspondence, in which he 
gave unreserved expression to his deepest thoughts, 
I first thoroughly learned the worth and wealth of 
his spirit. His acquaintance had also extended in 
the parish and among the students, bringing out his 
varied talents, and giving free play to his wit and 
humor, and warm social nature. He had boarded 
for a time in my mother's family, and continued in- 
timate as one of our household. Our house was a 
familiar resort for all the students in the evenings 
and hours of leisure, and he was a frequent visitor, 



xx vm 



MEMOIR. 



so that I saw much of him in the most intimate 
relations, and knew him thoroughly. He had be- 
come a favorite with the children of the neighbor- 
hood, joining them in their work or play, their gar- 
dening, or fishing and nutting expeditions, and was 
regarded by a large group of them as a familiar 
friend. Indeed, with his genial, generous spirit, he 
became a universal favorite in the School and the 
parish, among old and young. There still his name 
is familiar as a household word. Many felt sadly 
when he left to return no more. They watched his 
course with an affectionate interest and pleasure, 
and when he died, many hearts there mourned him 
as a brother. 

" During the previous summer he had been preach- 
ing in Louisville. His flattering success, and the 
generous warmth of his reception, which caused 
him always after to speak of Louisville and Mead- 
ville as his twofold home, had enlivened and bright- 
ened his spirits, so that during that year he was 
buoyant and joyous as a different man. A larger 
number of students had by this time joined the 
School, and among them several of more than the 
average talent and culture. Many circumstances 
conspired to make that winter peculiarly pleasant. 
They who were there will never forget that charm- 
ing year of our school life, nor fail to think of 
Charles as one of the favorites in our pleasant 
group. The beautiful hills of that charming valley, 
so gorgeous in the rich and rare variety of its au- 
tumnal foliage, and the graceful banks of the gentle 



MEMOIR. 



xxix 



streams, invited us to many an afternoon ramble. 
In our frequent walks, Charles was always a chosen 
companion ; and in the evening parties, musical 
meetings, and sleigh-rides of the later winter, he 
was always a certain guest, — always, too, one of 
the most merry and entertaining, with his ready 
repartee and original sayings, his fund of anecdote, 
and queer maxims of universal application. 

" In school, also, he still held a high rank. He 
studied faithfully, and rarely or never missed or 
slighted an exercise or recitation. His mental dis- 
cipline gave him such thorough self-command, that 
he could write easily, fluently, and at any time. He 
wrote with remarkable grace and beauty of expres- 
sion, never transcribing and rarely correcting. He 
was always punctual and prompt with themes and 
sermons, having them written while others were 
thinking about it. Indeed, he always retained the 
rare gift of writing a sermon as readily on Monday 
morning as on Saturday night. Though especially 
fond of poetry and fiction, he spent no time in desul- 
tory reading, and rambled little in any direction 
from the straight line of study. Accustomed to 
think much and digest thoroughly, he had his own 
decided opinion on every question. He had also 
learned the wisdom, rarely acquired except by prac- 
tical experience in professional life, of studying by 
subjects. He was indefatigable in his study of any 
subject that interested him, pursuing his investiga- 
tions with unyielding pertinacity through every 
volume he could find that would afford him any 



XXX 



MEMOIR. 



light. Once, for instance, he became engaged in a 
theological controversy by letter with some distant 
Calvinistic friend. With his whole soul he entered 
into it, studied every point thoroughly, as if prepar- 
ing for the press or pulpit, and thus gained a reser- 
voir of knowledge on controversial points far beyond 
that of most preachers of his years. In his visit to 
Louisville, also, by conversation with the late Pro- 
fessor Caldwell, and by reading his book, he became 
interested in the question of the unity of origin of 
the human race. When he returned to Meadville, 
he diligently perused everything on the subject that 
he could lay his hands upon, and sent abroad for 
books. When Agassiz's articles afterwards ap- 
peared in the Christian Examiner, attracting pop- 
ular attention and discussion, Mr. Taggart was 
already familiar with everything that had been 
written on both sides of the subject, and surprised 
his friends in conversation, in a lecture and an ar- 
ticle in the Southern Quarterly Review, with the 
extent of his information on what seemed to many 
a novel question. Thus, on such topics as interested 
him, he had accumulated an amount of material, 
and acquired a decision in his opinions, which gave 
a consciousness of knowledge and a positive tone of 
authority to his assertions, that commanded respect 
and carried a weight of conviction with all the 
words he uttered. In later years he read less and 
thought more. The views he held were no second- 
hand parrot repetitions of other men's thoughts, but 
his own independent conclusions, and largely the 



MEMOIR. 



xxxi 



fresh products of his own brain. This I think was 
evident in his sermons, and gave them the charm of 
freshness and force of originality. 

" Of his sermons and preaching in the School I 
can hardly speak. His aims were pure and his hopes 
high in the ministry. But any conceptions of the 
work, gained only by anticipations, were necessarily 
vague. Our sermons written and delivered in the 
School were very unsatisfactory samples of what 
any one would do in real life. With no distinct 
aim or object, they inevitably became broad and 
commonplace generalities. They were either fiercely 
controversial and combative, aimed with chivalric 
enthusiasm at some imaginary windmill, or else 
tame abstractions, covering the whole vineyard of 
duty at once, broad and flat as a prairie, intended to 
regenerate society generally, and no one in partic- 
ular. Charles entered with very little spirit into 
what seemed merely ministerial gymnastics and 
sham preaching. For this reason I can but dimly 
recollect a single sermon that he preached, except 
one on the novel text, "Every man for himself," and 
once when he came forth gravely with a discourse 
on the importance of having plenty of Tin, in which 
he gave free play to his humor, and afford ed much 
entertainment to his hearers. 

" The tendency of his mind was toward broad 
generalization. He was full of a comprehensive phi- 
losophy of life, which existed not only as abstract 
theory, but was expressed in definite practical views, 
pervaded his spirit, and gave tone to his character, 



XXX11 



MEMOIR. 



His spirit was imbued with hearty trust in Divine 
Providence, and he was fond of dwelling on the 
thought that fidelity to-day is the best preparation 
for to-morrow, wherever in all the universe to-mor- 
row finds us, whether on this side of the grave or 
the other. This made him ever prompt and faithful 
to the duties at hand, gilding the present with all 
the brightness of sunny enjoyment and noble work, 
and little anxious for the future. It gave him a calm 
hope that never failed, and lifted him into a perfect 
serenity that nothing could disturb. Indeed, I never 
knew any one who could fairly face the darkest pos- 
sibilities of the future with more unfaltering calm- 
ness and composure. It was so in all the uncertain- 
ties of his school life and years of wandering, and 
even to the last hour of his stay on earth. His spirit 
was also remarkably cosmopolitan. This came 
from his realizing sense of the Divine Providence 
everywhere, making the whole world a fit sphere for 
a high mission to the faithful soul. He saw, too, 
that in every place there was noble work to be 
done ; and he believed and cherished the faith that 
there are pleasant people everywhere, among whom 
the generous spirit would meet responsive sympathy, 
and find or make friends and a home wherever the 
lot might be cast. This faith made him cheerful 
through all the wanderings of his later years, and 
acting upon it, he made it true in his own experi- 
ence. 

" I think he heartily and thoroughly enjoyed his 
last year in the School. Often afterwards he alluded 



MEMOIR. 



xxxiii 



to it as a sunny portion of his life. When spring 
came, he was prostrated for some weeks by a severe 
illness. When school drew nigh the close, he was 
weak and worn, pale and thin. Some friends 
thought that they then perceived the indications 
of permanent disease and certain decline, and feared 
that his life must be brief. In his weak condition, 
probably some natural perplexity as to his field of 
labor troubled him. His inclinations led him to the 
West, and his predilections were still stronger for 
the South. He always declared his firm faith that 
he could gather for himself a parish in any flourish- 
ing place, declaring too his preference for a church 
so formed. But that would involve a temporary 
independence or guaranty of support which he did 
not possess, and no place seemed open in the direc- 
tion of his choice. Advised by the Faculty to take 
a short journey to recruit his health, he visited the 
societies in Rochester and Albany, whose pulpits 
were then vacant. At the latter place, after preach- 
ing but one Sunday, he was invited to settle. So 
sudden an engagement seemed rash on both sides. 
Yet the call was highly flattering to a young man, 
and for the few remaining days of the term he was 
buoyant and elated in spirits. He entered upon his 
work with high hopes, and building many airy castles 
of quick success. But the post was too difficult for 
any young man, and utterly uncongenial to him, 
with his Southern partialities, and he soon set him- 
self afloat, with his face turned westward. 

" It is yours to relate the subsequent course of his 
d 



xxxiv 



MEMOIR. 



brief career, and speak of his talents and character 
and work in the ministry. His abilities were rated 
as of superior order by his Meadville friends and 
companions. We felt sure that he would make a 
mark in the world, and, if his life were spared, take 
a distinguished position among the members of his 
profession. But it seemed his destiny to wander, 
and spend his few remaining years in finding the 
field for his appointed work. He had at last found 
the congenial sphere which seemed the charming 
realization of all his hopes and fancies, with opening 
avenues of inviting usefulness, when, by a mysteri- 
ous and inscrutable Providence, he was called away. 
His wandering prevented any brilliant visible success. 
Yet his life was not in, vain, nor his mission unful- 
filled. It is not the quantity of our words and deeds, 
but the quality of our character, that makes deep and 
abiding impression in the world. The impression 
of his character, and the remembrance of his pure 
and generous spirit, are left in many a heart. By 
frequent letters I accompanied him in all his wander- 
ing. What might have seemed discouraging failure 
to a superficial observer, never disheartened him. He 
was cheerful and hopeful through all change and 
uncertainty, borne up by his cherished faith, to which 
he was ever steadfast and loyal. Wherever he went, 
he seemed to realize the majestic presence of a 
superintending Providence, finding everywhere the 
needed work and the cordial friends that his faith 
anticipated, and caring little where the morrow 
should find him, while living nobly and fulfilling 



MEMOIR. 



XXXV 



faithfully the duties of to-day. The lines of Festus, 
of which he was so fond, may be most appropriately 
applied to himself: ■ — 

' We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths : 
In feelings, not in figures on a dial. 
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives 
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.' 

" Affectionately your friend and brother, 

" Rush H. Shippen. 

" Chicago, April 10, 1855." 

Such was the life of our friend at Meadville. It 
was life. He lived every hour which he passed 
there, and when he left the institution, he bore with 
him a mind trained to earnest, vigorous, consecutive 
thought, and a high ideal of Christian usefulness. 
During the summer of 1848, the summer previous 
to that of his graduation, ha preached for a series of 
Sundays in Louisville. His manner of delivery at 
that time, was not adapted to do justice either to the 
vitality or the power of his mind. Naturally fastid- 
ious, and shrinking from everything that resembled 
or seemed to resemble " clap-trap," he spoke in a 
comparatively low tone, with little action and ap- 
parently little animation. His articulation was not 
then entirely distinct, so that many had difficulty in 
catching his words, often losing parts of sentences, 
sometimes whole sentences. But notwithstanding 
these drawbacks, his preaching was interesting, to 
many persons intensely interesting. His sermons 
then, as always, were characterized by freshness, 
boldness, and originality. To minds of a certain 



xxxvi 



MEMOIR. 



class, minds which had been troubled with doubts, 
his preaching was pre-eminently quickening and 
helpful. They instinctively felt that he was one 
who had sufficient clearness and comprehensiveness 
of mind to appreciate the full force of any mental 
difficulty, and, moreover, that he was one who, how- 
ever strong his own faith might be, would never be 
unjust to those who had passed or were passing 
through the terrible ordeal of scepticism. To an- 
other class of minds, also, his preaching was pecu- 
liarly attractive, — to those who had suffered, as 
he had suffered, from the depressing influences of 
Calvinism. Persons who from childhood had had 
bright and cheering views of Christianity, and knew 
not from experience how deep and dark is the gloom 
cast by the system of the stern Genevan, thought 
his preaching too controversial. But not so thought 
those who had themselves suffered. To them his 
preaching was not too frequently nor too sharply 
controversial, and they always enjoyed his oft-re- 
peated and thorough dissections of that hard system 
of theology. 

Immediately after graduating, Mr. Taggart was 
ordained as pastor of the Unitarian Church in Al- 
bany, New York. The ordination services were 
held on the evening of July 31, 1849. He entered 
upon his work in that city with earnestness and 
enthusiasm, and prosecuted it with diligence. His 
residence, however, in Albany was brief. The 
church was struggling under a load of debt, and 
there were other circumstances which rendered the 



MEMOIR. 



XXXV11 



position a very trying one, especially to a young 
minister. Our friend, after laboring earnestly for a 
season, felt convinced that some other man, of more 
years and larger experience, could be found better 
fitted for the charge of the church there than himself, 
and that its best interests, as well as his own, would 
be promoted by his resignation. He accordingly 
bade it farewell, though not without emotion ; for he 
had become interested in the church and the place, 
and was very grateful to the friends who had earnest- 
ly co-operated with him. 

The feeling with which those friends regarded him 
is manifested in the following extract from a letter 
written by one who was accustomed to listen to his 
preaching, but who is now himself earnestly engaged 
in the work of the ministry, Rev. A. S. Ryder. 

" I have been much grieved by the early death of 
our beloved brother Taggart. I was intimately as- 
sociated with him while he was settled in Albany, 
and I soon learned to love him very much. At that 
time Albany was a difficult place, but he entered 
upon his work there with a cheerfulness seldom seen, 
and a faithful application to the work before him, 
worthy of imitation by all who enter the sacred call- 
ing. He remained in Albany but ten months ; but 
during that time I seldom met him except in his 
study. He thought the pulpit his sphere of action 
and influence far more than society, and all his labor 
had express reference to his public services ; and even 
then, though he had but just entered upon the duties 
of his chosen profession, I heard it said of some of 
' d* 



xxxviii 



MEMOIR. 



his sermons, that they were creditable efforts, even 
when compared with those of the celebrated preach- 
er who had preceded him." 

Mr. Taggart left Albany, April 30, 1850. For a 
few months he was not established in any place. 
He travelled over a large portion of our Southern 
and Western country, and preached in many places, 
Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Louisville, Can- 
nelton, Ind., New Orleans, Mobile, Wheeling, Wash- 
ington, D. C, Charleston, S. C, and Augusta, Ga. 
He preached at Charleston two Sundays, November 
17th and 24th. During the services of the first Sun- 
day an incident occurred of most affecting character. 
After the morning service Mr. Taggart was intro- 
duced to several persons, and among them to Daniel 
Webb, Esq., a respected member of the church. 
Near the close of the afternoon sermon, and when 
Mr. Taggart was speaking in reference to dying 
scenes, Mr. Webb died, passing instantaneously from 
the seen to the unseen world. This event, so start- 
ling and impressive, but served to render more prom- 
inent two thoughts which were always vividly pres- 
ent to the mind of our brother, and which he sought 
to make equally vivid to the minds of others ; — that 
each passing day is to be regarded as a complete ex- 
istence of itself, and to be marked by the highest life, 
both mental and spiritual, of which a man is capa- 
ble ; and that the unseen world is not to be regarded 
as far remote from the seen, but as near to it and 
intimately connected with it. 

A warm climate was congenial to Mr. Taggart's 



MEMOIR. 



xxxix 



constitution, and he determined, if possible, to find 
an abiding place, a home, somewhere in the Southern 
States. He concluded at last to go to Nashville, 
Tennessee, where he remained somewhat more than 
two years, commencing his ministerial work there 
February 9th, 1851, and ending it February 27th, 
1853. 

Here he gave himself up in earnestness to his life- 
work ; here he manifested fully what he was capable 
of being and doing. Years of life were those two 
years, of true, intense life, both mental and spiritual ; 
and never did two years of self-discipline, of intel- 
lectual improvement, of religious consecration, lead 
to greater development, produce more real results, 
than those years led to and produced in the experi- 
ence and character of our brother. He was no long- 
er the mere student, though a more thorough, more 
indefatigable student he never was at any period of 
his life than then. Books he studied with profound 
interest, but he also studied men. He mingled free- 
ly in society, he entered into earnest, searching con- 
versation. Those with whom he became intimate 
opened their inmost thoughts to him. Men in every 
stage of religious or irreligious experience he met 
with; — some who for fashion or family's sake were 
attending, and for years had been attending, churches 
with whose doctrines they had no sympathy ; some 
who had begun to doubt the accordance with Chris- 
tianity of much of the popular theology ; some who 
had found in the writings of Channing full expres- 
sion of thoughts and feelings which had been awa- 



xl 



MEMOIR. 



kened in themselves, as they had privately meditated 
upon the teachings of our Saviour and his Apostles ; 
some whose hearts were rilled to overflowing with 
religious love and gratitude ; some who were troubled 
with doubts as to the reality of religion ; and some 
who had wandered far away into the dreary, arctic 
region of atheism, utter non-belief in God and im- 
mortality. Such were the elements which were 
mingled in the audiences that from time to time 
gathered around him. Our brother felt that he had 
a great, a real, and a solemn work before him, and 
to it he gave himself up with all the energies of his 
being. He felt that no formal preaching would do ; 
that doubts and difficulties could not be ignored or 
slurred over, but must be met, fairly considered and 
resolved, or removed in a manly, Christian way. So 
he took up the great themes, God, Christ, immor- 
tality, sin, death, belief, unbelief, as if they had 
been presented to him for the first time in all their 
grandeur and infinite importance. Upon these 
themes he meditated in the silence of his room, 
gratefully availing himself of whatever aid the wise 
and good could give through the books in which they 
live, but not relying upon them, — relying only upon 
his own powers, concentrated in earnestness to the 
pursuit of truth, and upon the gracious aid of God. 
Not in vain did he rely. Great thoughts, thus might- 
ily evoked, came majestically to him, and, being sent 
forth in fulness and freshness from his mind, went 
home w r ith power to the minds of others. Old sub- 
jects were invested with new and living interest. 



MEMOIR. 



Xli 



Difficulties were removed, doubts were resolved. 
Men felt that a genuine man was speaking to them, 
and not from prescription or for form's sake, but from 
his own experience, and in obedience to the convic- 
tions of an honest soul. 

Wonderful was the effect of this earnest study, 
this heroic search of truth, upon his own mind. It 
was enlarged, expanded in all directions, invigorated. 
It was elevated to a higher plane. Its aversion to 
Calvinism never abated ; but that aversion found ex- 
pression less in negation and more in affirmation, — 
affirmation of the blessedness, the ennobling, ani- 
mating, liberalizing influence, of what he regarded as 
the genuine Gospel faith. 

And all this while his spiritual was commensurate 
with his intellectual growth. Called to visit the 
mourner, sunk in deep sorrow, to sympathize with 
the long-afflicted sufferer, he realized more and more 
man's dependence upon God, and appreciated more 
and more the infinite blessedness of the religion 
which comes with balm from on high. 

Nor was this all the effect produced. His manner 
in the pulpit was entirely changed. He spoke with 
energy, with distinction, animation, and great power. 
It was no longer the student of fastidious taste, 
quietly reading his essay, but the earnest man, long- 
ing to impart what he felt to be vital truth to his 
brother-man. 

Mr. Taggart felt that his life at Nashville was of 
great service to him. He thus speaks, in his diary, at 
the close of the year 1852 : " To me an eventful and 



xlii 



MEMOIR. 



also a useful year. I have read, studied, written, 
more than in any previous year of my life. I have 
labored, as I had ability, in the cause of charity 
and brotherhood, and what I regard as Christianity. 
May the coming year be less harassing and more 
useful." That word, " harassing," used by one nev- 
er wont to murmur, reveals much. His Nashville 
experience was alike interesting and trying, and the 
contemplation of it, while it fills the mind with ad- 
miration for his noble qualities, touches the heart to 
sadness. A few persons appreciated him and his la- 
bors ; but the number was exceedingly small. His 
audiences ranged from weight to one hundred and 
fifty. For a long series of Sundays, his morning 
congregation did not average more than twenty per- 
sons. Nevertheless, and here we see our brother's 
spiritual integrity, and his stern, unfaltering fidelity 
to his own mind and to the work to which he had 
consecrated himself, he prepared his sermons, each 
successive week, with as much thoroughness and 
care as if he had known that multitudes would be 
present to hear and admire. Any one can labor 
with right good-will who is surrounded with troops 
of ^friends, and whose labors are crowned with suc- 
cess ; but to work on in comparative solitude, and 
to work as well as if the eyes of a world were upon 
him, — it takes a man, a Christian man, to do that. 

But though the regular audience was never large, 
there were men in it of profound and active minds, 
and a few noble, devout women, who received im- 
pressions which cannot be effaced while their minds 



MEMOIR. 



xliii 



are in being, and who will always hold him. who 
never failed to bring to the temple service pure in- 
cense and beaten oil, in grateful remembrance as a 
mental and spiritual benefactor. Our brother was 
conscious that, notwithstanding his outward success 
was small, he had not labored in vain ; but after two 
years' residence, he came to the conclusion that it 
was not expedient for him to remain longer. His 
friends regretted that he felt it his duty to leave, but 
the reasons which presented themselves to his mind 
were decisive to him, and he bade them farewell. 

And now the world is again before him, and he 
goes forth to labor wherever Providence may direct. 
Though disappointed as to^visible results in Nash- 
ville, he is not despondent. The spirit which ani- 
mates him is revealed in these words from his jour- 
nal : " So closes my last evening at Nashville. Two 
years and one month since I came here; — time 
spent laboriously, but profitably to me, and usefully 
to others. Some good has been done, and a future 
lies before me, should I live, as promising as at any 
period of my life." 

After leaving Nashville, Mr. Taggart journeyed 
for a while. He passed two Sabbaths at Louisville, 
and two at Cincinnati, where he preached both in 
the Unitarian and Universalist churches. He then 
went down the Ohio, spent one Sabbath at Cannel- 
ton, and then went to St. Louis, where he attended, 
with great interest, the second session of " The West- 
ern Conference of Unitarian Churches." Thence he 
returned to Louisville, passed up the Ohio to Pitts- 



xliv 



MEMOIR. 



burg, where he made a brief visit, then went to 
Washington, D. C, and thence to Boston to attend 
the anniversary meetings. He spent a few weeks 
there, preached Jane 5th and 12th, and then went to 
Charleston, S. C, in acceptance of an urgent invita- 
tion to officiate in the Unitarian church during the 
illness of its esteemed pastor, Rev. Dr. Gilman. On 
June 19th, 1853, he commenced his services in the 
city which was thenceforward to be his home. In 
his previous visits his preaching had awakened great 
interest, and the interest now felt in his ministra- 
tions was so deep and so general in the congregation, 
that, on the 23d of October, a cordial invitation 
was given to him to become associate pastor. The 
invitation was accepted, and he entered upon his 
work with great earnestness. His preaching was 
listened to with profound attention by that intelli- 
gent and highly-cultivated congregation, and friends 
gathered around him who were bound to him as by 
hooks of steel. But alas ! disease had already 
marked him for its own. 

He had on the 24th day of November a violent 
hemorrhage from his lungs. On the 28th, he left 
home for a brief visit to Nashville and Louisville, 
in the latter of which cities he preached, Decem- 
ber 4th, two powerful sermons, the one on " Retri- 
bution," the other on " Untimely Death." He then 
returned to Charleston, where he preached, De- 
cember 18th, and where he continued to preach 
once every Sunday until February 12th ; and even 
on that day he preached in the afternoon, though 



MEMOIR. 



xlv 



a severe hemorrhage had compelled him to leave 
the Sunday School in the morning. This constant 
preaching was regarded by many of his friends as 
imprudent; but he was firmly of the opinion, in 
which he was confirmed by some physicians, that 
speaking did not injure him. He concluded, however, 
at the urgent solicitations of friends, to cease from his 
labors for a while, and to visit the island of Cuba. 

He sailed February 15th, 1854. His visit he en- 
joyed exceedingly, notwithstanding his weak and 
precarious condition. His mind was all alive. Noth- 
ing of interest, within his reach, escaped his atten- 
tion. One in the fulness of health could scarcely 
have seen and learned more than he saw and learned, 
in regard to the natural features of the island, and 
also in regard to its social state. The following ex- 
tracts from his journal not only disclose to us his 
mental activity, but permit us to go behind the veil, 
and see the pure, grateful, reverential feelings which, 
like vestal virgins, ministered at the altar of his soul, 
and kept the flame of devotion ceaselessly burning. 

" Wednesday, 22d, 7 A. M. Walked to ferry and 
crossed the bay. Walked three quarters of a mile 
back, and ascended a considerable eminence, from 
which the whole city, and several miles of the 
country on every side, were spread out before me 
as a map. For the moment I felt devoutly and 
profoundly grateful for my own existence, and for 
the enjoyment of the glorious scene, in the midst 
of which I stood. While in the distance I saw the 
peasant working in his field, or sitting beneath his 
e 



xlvi 



MEMOIR. 



fruit-laden palm-trees, on the 'other side appeared in 
the clear sunlight the glistening walls, domes, towers, 
and palaces of Havana, all protected by the mas- 
sive fortifications of the Cabana and Moro Castle. 
Among the ships, and along the shores of the bay, 
and down far below me in this suburb of the city, I 
could see moving thousands of human beings. Yet 
here I stood alone, with nature and God to hold 
communion. This hour was one of the marked 
hours of my life, into which immeasurable depths of 
its enjoyment have been crowded. It appeared as 
if the loveliest summer scene of Carolina had been 
just presented, — the middle of February set forward 
into the middle of June." 

" Thursday, 23d. As yesterday morning, when 
alone amidst the wild luxuriance of vegetation which 
has overgrown the ruins of the old fortification on 
which I stood, — as I there, under the cloudless sky, 
involuntarily or irresistibly bowed my body to the 
ground in deep emotion and unspeakable gratitude to 
the Author of my life, and expressed my earnest de- 
sire for a yet longer life of usefulness to my fellow- 
man and virtuous labor in the cause of truth, — so 
this morning, as fresher and more vigorous blood 
seemed to circulate throughout my system, I again 
bowed body and soul in gratitude and hope to the 
Disposer of all things, and arose calmer, firmer, 
and with stronger faith than for weeks before." 

And thus he speaks when on the steamship which 
is to bear him home: — "March 21st. The view 
from the deck of the Isabel was beautiful, and I 



MEMOIR. 



xlvii 



experienced the most* comfortable and refreshing 
emotions at being once more on the vessel in which 
I hope to return to home, and friends, and work, and 
duty, and enjoyment. The view from the vessel of 
the Alemada, the Caba~as, the vessels in the clear 
waters of the bay, the American flags floating from 
the Black Warrior, the Fulton, and other American 
ships and steamers, the sun's last rays gilding the 
palm-crowned mountain-tops around the harbor, all 
together formed a scene as beautiful as human eye 
need wish to look upon. All was so calm, and 
every object softened by the approaching twilight, 
that it seemed more picture-like than real. It was 
more worthy of the name than many of the scenes 
which I have heard even from the pulpit described 
as Heaven. Still I rejoiced at feeling that I was so 
soon to leave it all behind me, most probably for 
ever. There is some one place and one work for 
each and every one of us. That place is our home, 
that work constitutes our happiness, and our first 
duty is to find that place and enter upon that work. 
Heaven assist me to know my sphere, and to fulfil 
faithfully its duties ! " 

And thus he gives utterance to his feelings, Wed- 
nesday evening, March 22d : — " 8 P. M. The night 
is glorious, every star in the sky appearing distinctly 
in its brightness, — Orion, the Pleiades, and other 
constellations looking as calmly down upon our 
speck of earth, as serenely, as when they looked 
upon the Egypt of the Pharaohs, the Jerusalem of 
Solomon, the Mount Nebo of Moses, the Athens 
of Solon, or the Rome of Julius Csesar. 



xlviii 



MEMOIR. 



' I love the stars, — tlieir solemn light 
Hath o'er my soul a mystic charm ; 
'T is not their splendor on the robe of night, — 
Ah, no ! 't is their eternal calm.' " 

He reached home on March 25th. On the follow- 
ing day he preached once. He took a very inter- 
esting part in the dedication services of the new 
church, April 2d. To avoid the sharpness of the 
sea air, on the 17th of this month he went to Aiken, 
where he spent two weeks, returning, however, on 
Saturdays, to take part in the Sunday services. 
Regarding it as his duty to avail himself of every 
means which gave encouraging promise of resto- 
ration, or even of relief, he sailed on the 19th of July 
for New York, to try Dr. Hunter's system of inha- 
lation. While absent he visited Montreal, which 
city had always had deep interest for him, but to 
which he now felt drawn by that powerful, mys- 
terious magnetism which often attracts one to the 
place of his birth when the hour approaches in 
which he is to depart from earth. 

On the 30th of August he sailed from New York 
for home. He reached Charleston on Saturday, 
September 2d, " grateful and happy " in his return. 
He preached once on the next day, and once on 
every Sunday, with one exception, until October 
15th, when he entered the church for the last time. 
On that day, to quote the words of a devoted friend, 
H. S. Griggs, Esq., " he was very feeble ; but in 
obedience to duty, as he thought, he preached in the 
afternoon an eloquent discourse, in which he re- 



MEMOIR. 



xlix 



viewed a Report on Foreign Missions by some dis- 
tinguished clergyman of the Orthodox Church, in 
reference to the salvation' of the heathen. It was a 
bold, startling, and original discourse, and was de- 
livered in a very loud tone of voice, though he in- 
formed me on Friday morning last, when I watched 
with him, that he was so weak when he rose in the 
pulpit that he trembled from head to foot ; but, said 
he, £ after I had spoken a few minutes, Richard was 
himself again, and I could have preached an hour 
longer.' Such was his indomitable will, when he had 
determined on his purpose." 

During the following week he suffered keen pain, 
and his strength diminished very rapidly. On Fri- 
day he showed signs of delirium, on Saturday he 
became unconscious, and continued so until a short 
time before his death, when, to use again his friend's 
words, " he had a convulsion. We then thought 
it was the end ; he opened his eyes, which had 
been all day covered with the film of death. In an 
instant they became clear and bright, while his 
face seemed mantled with that smile with which 
he was accustomed to meet his friends. He looked 
around from one to another of the friends he loved 
so dearly, as one who had awaked from a dream ; 
his eye finally rested on Mrs. G., then on me, and I 
thought there was a look of recognition. Then he 
closed them again, and so continued for about three 
quarters of an hour, until without a struggle his spirit 
passed into the unseen world of glory, Sunday, 22d 
instant, at three quarters past five o'clock, P. M. 



1 



MEMOIR. 



" Such was the closing scene of his brilliant and 
brief life, 'brief when counted by his years, but 
how long when measured by his achievements ! ' 
Had he lived, he was destined to accomplish much 
good, especially among that class of educated, think- 
ing men who glide into the dark sea of infidelity, 
because they never have anything but dogmatic 
theology, with sterile, rigid, and cold deductions, 
preached to them. 

" On Monday afternoon his remains were carried 
to the church he so much loved, where his coffin 
remained open until the funeral services were com- 
menced, in order that his devoted friends might look 
their last look upon that face which we shall see no 
more on earth. Every demonstration of respect 
was paid to his memory. His body was robed in 
his gown, and laid in a coffin covered with black 
broadcloth ; on the lid was a silver plate, inscribed 
with his name and age. Around the plate, was a 
votive wreath composed of white rosebuds and arbor- 
vitse ; below this was a beautiful cross composed of 
the same, both of them the offerings of woman, £ the 
last at the cross and the first at the sepulchre.' The 
funeral anthem and hymns were exquisitely sung 
and played. Dr. Gilman's eulogy was chaste, 
touching, and truthful, giving a fair estimate of 
character and talents, and lamenting his premature 
death. After the funeral service his body was borne 
by his most intimate friends to the grave, where it 
was deposited in a new brick vault, a few yards 
from the chancel-door of the church. This spot will 



MEMOIR. 



li 



ever be sacred to his friends, Here they will often 
linger on the Sabbath, while memory sheds a tear 
over departed worth." 

The estimation in which our brother was held by 
the people to whom he ministered is shown in 

" The Proceedings of the Unitarian Church in Charles- 
ton, in Reference to the Death of Rev. Charles 
Man son Taggart. 

" At a meeting of the congregation of the Unitarian 
Church, held on Sunday morning last, after service, for the 
purpose of giving expression to their sentiments in relation 
to the death of their late lamented Junior Pastor, on motion, 
Dr. James Moultrie was called to the Chair, and George 
Wm. Logan, Esq. was requested to act as Secretary. 

" The Chairman introduced the proceedings by a few 
appropriate remarks on the sad event which called them 
together, whereupon the following Preamble and Resolu- 
tions were offered by Henry S. Griggs, Esq. ; and being 
seconded by Samuel Gilman, D.D.,they were unanimously 
adopted, and ordered to be published in all the daily papers 
of the city. 

" Whereas it has pleased Almighty God to remove from 
the scene of his earthly labors our beloved friend and 
brother, the Rev. Charles Manson Taggart, Junior Pastor 
of this Church ; and whereas this congregation was deeply 
impressed with a sense of his eminent ability, earnestness, 
and holiness as a preacher and exponent of the truths of 
Liberal Christianity, with his fervent piety as a Christian 
minister, and with his purity of heart and conscientiousness 
as a man : therefore, be it 

"Resolved, That, as a congregation of Unitarian Chris- 
tians, we deeply lament his premature death, and humble 



iii 



MEMOIR. 



ourselves under this afflictive dispensation of Divine Prov- 
idence, praying that this sad event may be sanctified to our 
good as a Christian church. 

"Resolved, That, as an outward demonstration of our 
sincere, heartfelt sorrow for his loss, the interior of our 
place of worship be clad in mourning for the space of six 
months. 

"Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to 
obtain a suitable plan for a monument to be erected over 
the spot, in our cemetery, where his mortal remains repose, 
and also for a tablet to be placed in the vestibule of the 
church, and that the same committee receive the offerings 
of the congregation towards these objects. 

"Resolved, That this Church will endeavor to carry out 
the views expressed in the dying request of our lamented 
friend, in regard to the publication of his sermons, not only 
because it will afford us peculiar pleasure to gratify his 
wishes, but because we believe that the tloquent lessons of 
honor to God and love for our fellow-men with which these 
effusions of his lofty and benevolent spirit abound, will tend 
to hasten the coming of that blessed day, in the certain 
advent of which he so confidently believed, 4 when,' to use 
his own forcible language, ' God, our Father, shall be truly 
worshipped, and man, our brother, shall be truly loved.' 

"Resolved, That the Secretary of this Corporation for- 
ward a copy of these proceedings to his relatives, with the 
assurance of our sympathy and condolence in their bereave- 
ment. 

"Resolved, That another copy of the same be sent to 
the Meadville Theological School, at Meadville, Penn., of 
which he was a graduate, with offerings of our condolence 
for the early loss of one who, had his life been prolonged, 
would no doubt have shed lustre on his Alma Mater." 



MEMOIR. 



lili 



The following is the inscription upon the tablet in 
the vestibule of the church : — 

This Tablet 

is erected by the Congregation of this Church in 
affectionate remembrance of the late 

Rev. CHARLES MANSON TAGGART, 
their Junior Pastor ; 

who was born in Montreal, Canada, Oct. 31, 1821, 
and died in this city, on the 22d Oct. 1853, 
at the early age of 33 years. 



As a Minister of the Gospel, he was eminently 
distinguished for the earnestness and eloquence with which 
he advocated a system of practical and liberal 
Christianity, based upon the simple, pure, 
and beautiful teachings of Jesus of Nazareth — 
the Christ — the anointed Messenger of God 
the Father ; while at the same time he 
evinced great originality and boldness in attacking the 
narrow creeds of sectarianism, the 
inventions of men. 



As a Christian, he exhibited the most fervent 
piety towards God, and the most comprehensive 
charity for his fellow-men ; ever inculcating 
in his public and private teachings the paternity of 
God, and the brotherhood of man. 



" We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths ; 
In feelings, not in figures on a dial. 

. . He most lives 

Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best." 



liv 



MEMOIR. 



Thus early ended the life >f this beloved brother, 
a life of rare intensity, and one which has left in- 
effaceable impressions upon many minds and hearts. 
It was a life which had its full share of trials and 
perplexities. But though our friend keenly felt the 
saddening circumstances of his lot, — his early and 
entire separation, as far as theological opinions were 
'concerned, from nearest relatives, — his compara- 
tive isolation and want of sympathy, — he w 7 as not 
an unhappy man. He did not gloomily brood 
over the difficulties of his condition, he did not 
stop to ask himself whether he was happy or not, 
but earnestly gave himself up to the work before 
him, and the accomplishment of that work became 
more and more the great, engrossing purpose of his 
being. His absorption in his work, the power wmich 
he possessed of going at will into the realm of mind 
and living there companionless, — no. not com- 
panionless, for he. had the presence of his own grand - 
thoughts, and the sublime thoughts of the wise and 
good, a right noble company, — and his self-reliance, 
the distinguishing characteristic of the bold and in- 
dependent thinker, made him less dependent than 
men of less originality upon external means of 
happiness. And there were sources of happiness 
open to him which more and more poured out 
their rich stream. During the last few years, con- 
stantly, as he came to be understood and appre- 
ciated, friends increased around him and drew^ near 
unto him. Firmer, more genuine friends man never 
had ; for he employed no arts to gain friendship, but 



MEMOIR. 



Iv 



was always true to himself, and the friends who 
came, came because of their respect for his intellect- 
ual power, his loyalty to truth, and his unreserved 
devotion to his great work. The love of those 
friends moved his heart to its very depths, and for 
those who, in the days of comparative friendlessness, 
had had the privilege of extending to him the hand 
of affection, he never ceased to express the warmest 
gratitude. Happiness, too, he found, pure and abid- 
ing, in his communion with the Heavenly Father, 
towards whom his love and reverence daily grew in 
intensity and in depth, and in the influence of the 
religion of God's well-beloved Son, whose words 
were to him indeed words of eternal life, and whose 
religion, in its purity and transparency, its freedom 
from human alloy, its genuine piety, its heavenly 
benevolence, its jealous regard for the liberty of the 
individual mind, was to him man's only hope for 
the present world, his only guaranty of immor- 
tality. 

Such were the sources of mental and spiritual 
happiness open to our friend, and we are not sur- 
prised that, having these, he was not cast down in 
sadness and gloom, even when the ominous cough 
announced to him, at the time when the early 
clouds had passed away, and life had become fairest, 
most beautiful, that he must leave the place of his 
earthly abode. Very pleasant was that place to 
him, very enthusiastic the friendship which glad- 
dened his heart and animated his hopes; intensely 
interesting were the labors to which his whole being 



Ivi 



MEMOIR. 



was consecrated, fast-coming andexhaustlessthe large 
and noble thoughts which sought expression through 
his lips and pen ; but too deep was his reverence for 
the Lord of creation to permit a murmur when the 
angel came to summon him hence. And so he 
lived, labored, and preached up to the very end, his 
life losing none of its intensity and earnestness until 
he was prostrated on the dying bed ; and there, as 
we have seen, he remained but for a few days, and 
then passed on to that higher life for which his 
earthly existence had been a constant preparation, 
and which, he confidently believed, — regarding 
death as but an incident in being, — would prove, 
in all essential features, a continuation on a higher 
plane, and with vastly greater opportunities and 
powers of development, of the mental, moral, and 
spiritual life begun and continued here. 

Life is the manifestation of character. Such a 
life as the one we are contemplating reveals a char- 
acter of no ordinary kind. Our brother had a char- 
acter of his own. It was marked by courage and 
decision. The thinking for himself in early youth 
upon subjects of deepest importance, the coming to 
conclusions different from those held by the friends 
whom nature had bound to him by closest ties, the 
honesty which prompted him to avow those conclu- 
sions, however painful the consequences of avowal 
might be, the willingness to make his unaided way 
through life, — all this indicates a character of rare 
decision and independence. The independence so 
early manifested characterized him to the close of his 



MEMOIR. 



Ivii 



earthly existence. He thought for himself, he acted 
for himself. He acknowledged no responsibility for 
his religious opinions to any body , of men, to any 
system of theology. He felt that he was responsi- 
ble alone to God and Christ. Christian liberty, the 
unfettered freedom of the mind, was to him of ines- 
timable value. As St. Paul held fast to the glorious 
liberty of the sons of God ; as he protested against 
every endeavor of Judaizing believers to narrow the 
Christian platform, to fetter the individual mind; as 
he would not for the sake of policy or of peace yield 
an inch, even to St. Peter, when he seemed ready in 
some measure to compromise the freedom where- 
with Paul felt that Christ has made his followers 
free ; so our brother clung with utmost tenacity to 
the freedom in which his soul rejoiced, which he felt 
that God designed as the birthright of every soul, 
and in which alone Christianity could achieve its 
perfect triumph. He came to the study of the Bi- 
ble as a perfectly free man. He studied it for him- 
self and by himself, and the conclusions which he 
reached as to its teachings he expressed with perfect 
openness, with entire unreserve. He never stopped 
to ask whether his conclusions harmonized or not 
with the popular theology, or even with the theology 
of that class of Christians — the Unitarian — with 
whom he was intimately associated, and whom he 
warmly loved. Sufficient unto him was it, that he 
believed them to be right, to be accordant with truth. 
In the exercise of this mental freedom, he came to 
conclusions on various points different from those 

/ 



Iviii 



MEMOIR. 



commonly held; as, for instance, upon the original 
unity of the race. So, too, upon the vexed question 
of slavery, he held opinions not shared by a large 
portion of his Unitarian brethren, some of whom 
may have thought that a Southern residence had 
unduly biassed his mind. Of course no finite mind 
exists which may not unconsciously be influenced 
by surrounding circumstances ; but the man never 
lived who was less inclined than our brother to trim 
or modify opinions so as to make them acceptable 
to the community in which he lived. His opinions 
upon this, as upon every other subject, were his 
own, honestly formed and candidly avowed. 

As religious liberty, so Christian union, held a 
high place in the mind of our brother, the first being 
regarded by him as the pre-requisite, the essential 
condition of the other. Without perfect liberty, he 
felt that there could be no union, and no union did 
he desire except the genuine, manly, honest union 
in spirit of men who may differ widely in opinion. 
The passage of Scripture which oftener perhaps 
than any other was quoted by him, and which 
he desired that every body of Christians might 
adopt as its motto, was, " The unity of the spirit 
in the bond of peace." Such seemed to him union 
according to the apostolic, the Christian standard, 
the only real and enduring union. Union upon any 
other basis he thought as frail, as foundationless, as 
the house built upon the sand. 

It was because of its irreconcilableness with the 
great ideas of Christian liberty and Christian union, 



MEMOIR. 



lix 



as well as because of its dark and gloomy features, 
that our brother regarded Calvinism with utter aver- 
sion. It was to him a cold, gloomy, terrible system. 
By it the Universal Father was converted into a 
stern, unjust despot, the embodiment of supreme 
selfishness, who, arbitrarily and without regard to 
the eternal distinction between right and wrong, 
selected a portion of his creatures for ineffable bliss, 
and doomed the other portion to ineffable and hope- 
less woe. He felt that the system was directly at 
variance with justice; that it confused and weakened 
men's sense of moral responsibility ; that it made 
righteousness technical and artificial, instead of per- 
sonal, to be thrown over man as a cloak rather than 
to be formed within him, — the life of God in the soul 
of man ; that it made retribution indiscriminating, 
and therefore robbed it of power; that it was un- 
favorable to the development of tender, affectionate 
feeling; and that its influence upon the cause of 
religion was disastrous in the extreme, causing 
many sensitive, conscientious minds which received 
it to become anxious and unhappy, and driving 
many a bold spirit, which would not receive it, to 
irreligion and atheism. 

Some of us, while our hearts beat in unison with 
his, and while we heartily joined with him in reject- 
ing Calvin's stern system, felt that probably his 
utter aversion to it had driven him to the far ex- 
treme, and had led him somewhat to overlook or 
not to attach full importance to that feature of the 
Gospel which, to Augustine and all who like him 



MEMOIR. 



have had fearful conflicts with sin, is the characteris- 
tic, distinguishing feature, and which has led them in 
their theological systems to represent Christianity as 
exclusively a remedial scheme, having reference alto- 
gether and only to sin and pardon. But however this 
might be, we knew that he was perfectly true to his 
own convictions, and that he always spoke in regard 
to the Calvinistic or any other system of theology 
as he felt that Christianity bade him speak. 

In proportion to the strength and depth of his 
aversion to Calvinism was his love for that system 
which presents religion with bright and winning 
aspect. Through its influence, he felt that he had 
been prevented from losing himself in the cheerless 
region of distrust and disbelief. To him it was life 
and light, freedom to his mind and hope to his 
heart. It dispelled the cloud which had hidden the 
divine loveliness from view, and revealed God as a 
friend and Father. It filled his breast with love and 
gratitude to the Saviour, and caused him to repose 
with unwavering trust in the assurance of immor- 
tality. It strengthened his conviction in the omnip- 
otence of truth, and gave him heart «and hope to 
labor for its diffusion. Under its influence, his mind 
put forth its noblest powers, his soul reverently went 
to the throne of infinite love, and the warmest affec- 
tions of his heart lovingly attended it there. " How 
he loved," to quote again from the friend who has 
given us^the affecting account of the closing scenes, 
" to dwell upon the exalted themes of God's eternal 
love and justice, and of strict retribution for every 



MEMOIR. 



Ixi 



sin, thus awakening a sense of personal responsi- 
bility ! How he loved to preach Jesus, to hold up 
his spotless example for imitation ! How much he 
dwelt upon the central point of true Christianity, — 
charity, human brotherhood! How clearly defined 
were his views of the future life, how vividly he 
brought his arguments home to the comprehension 
of his hearers, until it became no longer a specu- 
lation, but a reality, separated only by the thin par- 
tition of the- event, — death ! How great was his 
moral courage in defence of truth, sometimes, by 
his enthusiasm, giving offence to those who differed 
with him, while those who knew him best knew 
that he plead the cause of humanity ; he had worn 
the galling yoke, and now enjoyed that freedom 
wherewith Christ had made him free, and his 
anxiety to make others happy dictated his earnest- 
ness in the cause of Liberal Christianity. How fer- 
vent and childlike were his devotions, — no effort to 
clothe his thoughts in language for the ear of the 
critic, but the simple outpourings of the heart, lifting 
his hearers with him on the wings of prayer, till they 
felt themselves near, very near, the Father's mercy- 
seat! How often have I seen the large tears roll 
down his cheeks while engaged in his devotions, his 
own sufferings drawing him by the cords of sym- 
pathy to the sufferer, when such needed the help of 
Omnipotence ! " 

Grateful for the influence through which, as he 
felt, dark and obscuring clouds had been removed, 
and the Gospel had been permitted to shine in all its 



Ixii 



MEMOIR. 



brilliancy, rejoicing in the light which illumined his 
pathway, our brother longed with unutterable yearn- 
ing to have others brought under the same influence 
and enabled to enjoy the same heavenly radiance. 
To this end he labored with an energy, a concen- 
trated earnestness, which perhaps exhausted his 
physical strength and facilitated the progress of 
his disease, but which, for the time, seemed to hold 
disease and death at bay, and made every hour, 
almost to the closing, an hour of intense life, and 
caused every word and every act to tell. Using the 
term in no narrow or technical way, but giving to it 
a broad and generous interpretation, we may say 
that his was a proselyting spirit ; for, while he held 
sacred the freedom of other minds as well as of his 
own, he regarded it as his duty on all fitting occa- 
sions, and in every right way, to present with clear- 
ness and explicitness the views which were dear to 
him, and to advocate them with all his power. He 
would have scorned himself had he shrunk in any 
presence from avowing and defending his faith. 
That faith was to him a heavenly friend, whose 
cheering voice had animated his heart, whose 
upward-pointing finger had guided his steps until 
he had reached the high table-land where his eye 
had unlimited range, and his soul exulted in the 
liberty of the sons of God. To the service of that 
faith he consecrated himself, in the spirit of Chris- 
tian chivalry, living, thinking, acting, as became a 
missionary of a liberal, and, in his estimation, a truly 
evangelical Christianity. 



MEMOIR. 



Ixiii 



Thus he lived and labored. He lived ! Heaven 
be praised that we are permitted to say he is still 
living, — living to God and Christ, living in the 
enjoyment of that immortal existence for which his 
life here was a constant preparation, and in which 
his mind will be for ever advancing in all true knowl- 
edge, and his soul will enjoy the companionship of 
the spirits of the just made perfect, of all earnest, 
faithful men, who, though widely separated on earth 
in creed and form, had the law of truth in their 
mouths, the love of truth in their hearts, and whom 
the God of truth will accept and bless for ever and 
ever! 



DISCOUESE I. 



RELIGION A LIFE, NOT A SPECIAL EXPERIENCE. 

IF THE PROPHET HAD BID THEE DO SOME GREAT THING, 
WOULDEST THOU NOT HAVE DONE IT? — 2 Kings V. 13. 

Afflicted with a disease which was probably 
regarded by the Syrian, no less than by the Hebrew, 
as a special mark of divine displeasure, Naaman, 
the Syrian officer, sought relief from Elisha, the 
prophet, on the suggestion of a Hebrew maiden 
who had been taken as a captive. Regarding the 
leprosy as a judgment from some one of the Syrian 
deities, offended by some acts of his own or of his 
ancestors, Naaman probably expected some striking 
display of power from the God of the Hebrews. 
This expectation may have been founded on the 
imagined hostility of the national God of the He- 
brews to the national or local deities of Syria. The 
compliment which Naaman viewed himself as offer- 
ing to the Hebrew Deity, he supposed would elicit 
from Jehovah a special, instantaneous, and brilliant 
display of divine favor in his behalf. His high- 
wrought expectations were painfully disappointed, 
1 



2 



RELIGION A LIFE, 



and he impatiently turned away, in contempt and 
anger, when Elisha offered him the simple and nat- 
ural direction, " Go and wash in Jordan seven times, 
and thou shalt be clean." Natural laws were not 
suspended ; the Hebrew Deity made no marked ex- 
hibition of favor in his behalf ; he was only directed 
to test the healing efficacy of the stream of Jordan. 
" Lo ! " said the Syrian in his rage, " I surely 
thought this prophet would come forth to me, and 
striking his hand upon me, heal me instantly, while 
calling on the name of Israel's God, Jehovah. Wash 
me in the Jordan ! Are not Abana and Pharpar, 
waters of Damascus, better than all the waters of 
Israel ? If washing is to cleanse me, may I not 
wash in them, and be healed of my leprosy ? " But 
as his wrath subsided, and a milder mood admitted 
of reflection, a servant or friend sincerely interested 
in Naaman's welfare, drawing near, said, in a friend- 
ly spirit : " My father, if the prophet had bid thee do 
some great thing', wouldest thou not have done it ? 
how much rather then obey, when he only says, 
1 Wash, and be clean' ? " This narrative of the Sy- 
rian leper may be viewed as illustrating in some 
respects the opinions of many men with respect to 
religion and life. 

It is never gratifying to dwell upon the differences 
among Christians, and the alleged importance of 
each peculiar doctrine in the estimation of its spe- 
cial friends. How pleasing would it be to gain the 
assent of all to some grand, controlling, practical 
rule, which would smooth down all the roughnesses 
of the way, along which, in this present and real 
life, we are compelled to walk together, whether 



NOT A SPECIAL EXPERIENCE. 



3 



kindly or unkindly, as mutual helpers or mutual op- 
ponents, retarding or promoting our common prog- 
ress. Could the attention of nominal Christians be 
attracted to, and concentrated upon, some catalogue 
of obvious and acknowledged duties, — such duties 
as demand immediate and entire attention, — sec- 
tarian dissensions would soon cease, and society 
would speedily assume another, a more gratifying 
and more hopeful aspect. But human imagination 
always has been active, and, when unrestrained by 
immediate realities, it has usually tended to throw 
the mind forward, beyond present realities, into that 
which is unseen and only possible. 

What seems most of all to be wanted in the 
world is something which might be in reality, if 
not in name, a Philosophy of Life, — some principle 
of general application, so clearly denned, so rational, 
so solid, and so comprehensive, as to command at 
once the assent of every sound and reflecting mind. 
We have religions enough, doctrines enough, and 
philosophies enough, but no one of them, nor all of 
them combined, as yet has furnished a practical and 
acceptable philosophy of life. We have natural 
philosophies, and mental philosophies, and moral 
philosophies, and all these, though valuable, and in- 
dispensable in their respective spheres, do not sup- 
ply the whole demand. We have philosophies of 
the future life too, but these do not supply the 
world's present want. They all start with some 
assumed original or primitive condition of man's 
spiritual nature, and, at one vast leap, they pass to 
the final destiny of man's spiritual nature, — leaving 
the whole interval of real, active existence here in 



4 



RELIGION A LIFE, 



darkness unilluminated and mystery unexplained. 
Then we have philosophies of human nature too ; 
but these do not supply the want, for they are all 
sectarian or theological. They are not philosophies, 
but only theories, connected with, and a part of, some 
theology. They originate in, and are based upon, 
some proposition in some creed or catechism, — 
some man's or some church's interpretation of the 
Bible. They all ask, and they all attempt to an- 
swer, these two questions : Whence came man ? 
Whither does man go ? And the reply to both seems 
only a conjecture, for there is no uniform and ac- 
knowledged interpretation; either of nature or of 
Scripture. Yet common observation proves, that 
each and every particular interpretation is by the 
intellect transformed into spiritual nutriment, and 
the most fanciful theory appears to be converted by 
faith into a spiritual reality; — showing the power 
of mind to transmute poison into food, or at least 
to extract the sweetness of honey from the bitter- 
ness of aloes. 

But in conjecturing something as to whence came 
man's life, and whither goes man's life, the great 
interval is overlooked, leaving unpropounded and 
unanswered the only determinable question, What 
is man's life ? 

Would he be esteemed a judicious instructor, who 
should teach his pupils that their principal duty is 
to wonder, meditate, and speculate on what they 
shall be, and how they shall feel, when they become 
men ? Since, speculate and wonder as they may, 
children never can foresee where they may be, nor 
what may be their feelings, ten or twenty years in 



NOT A SPECIAL EXPERIENCE. 5 

advance of their actual experience, the obvious 
duty of the teacher is, to develop in his pupils their 
actual capacities, instructing them in a knowledge of 
themselves, and the nature and use of things imme- 
diately around them. This, not only because it 
would be the very best means of fitting them for 
virtue, success, and usefulness wheresoever they 
might be in manhood, but because this would be 
manifestly in harmony with the true design of their 
youthful existence, — because such instruction and 
knowledge would be the necessary means and in- 
dispensable conditions of true enjoyment, even in 
their youthful life, though they should never reach 
the maturity of manhood. The child who is taught 
to perplex himself in fancying where and what he 
may be in the maturity of his years, however 
favorably situated he may find himself on actually 
attaining manhood, can find in this no recompense 
for the time misspent, the anxiety endured, and the 
happiness lost, during his earlier years, which were 
passed in dreamy wonderings, profitless conjectur- 
ings, and painful solicitudes as to the possibilities 
of his position and employment in the years then 
far before him. Why then should the mature man 
neglect his mental culture, weaken his energies, and 
diminish his actual happiness at present, by dwell- 
ing on the possibilities of his locality or his employ- 
ment in a remote and now necessarily incompre- 
hensible eternity ? We see how much of the pulpit 
discourse, and most of the church ceremonies, tend 
to disjoin religion from common life, as if religion 
related to the soul only, in the future, and not more 
directly to the whole man here in the present ; — as 
1* 



6 



RELIGION A LIFE, 



if religion were a gift from God, rather than a duty 
of our own, — as if it were a thing to be received, 
rather than a ivork to be performed, — as if it were 
a belief to be professed, instead of an action to be 
done, — as if religion were a mystery in God to be 
adored, instead of a revelation in man to be enjoyed. 
By chiefly looking forward to eternity, and over- 
looking time, religion has come to be regarded as a 
special divine grace, mysteriously wrought upon the 
heart, with sole reference to a final destiny after 
death. Thus the Church is sought by many, as Naa- 
man sought the Hebrew prophet, in the hope that 
some mighty agency may come forth, and by a 
powerful and instantaneous operation transform the 
soul from a condition of spiritual leprosy into a 
condition of spiritual health. They seek temporary 
excitements and extraordinary experiences. Impa- 
tient, and even angry, they will turn away from the 
suggestion of ordinary means to preserve or to re- 
store spiritual soundness, — as if ordinary means 
were less real or less divine than miraculous means. 
" What!" say they, "discharge our daily duties and 
be religious ! Doing right ! is that religion ? Wash' 
and be clean! be wise! be true! be just! be chari- 
table ! is this to be religious ? Why, then, seek the 
Jordan of the Church ? The Abanas and the Phar- 
pars of truth and holiness may flow through the 
Damascus of our daily pursuits, and the efficacy of 
these waters may be equal to that of all the waters 
of the Sabbath Israel ! " And they turn away in- 
dignantly from the naturalness and simplicity of the 
direction, " Go to the stream of Truth, wash in the 
flowing waters of Virtue, and be cleansed from 
moral leprosy." 



XOT A SPECIAL EXPERIENCE. 



? 



No ! divine as this is, it is not enough. Some 
great thing' must be done, some storm of emotion 
must be raised, some astounding change must be 
experienced, some amazing light must burst upon 
the mind, or there can be no religion. Should God 
require them to cross an ocean, or climb a moun- 
tain, or fight a battle, they are ready. To support 
a foreign mission, to build a costly church, by pray- 
er and fasting to mortify the body, to do some 
great thing, they are ready, — if by that a debt of 
duty can be cancelled, 'or a catalogue of sins be 
blotted out, or the approbation of God be purchased, 
or a divine curse be averted, or a future heaven se- 
cured. 

Apart from all traditions of the past, and all spec- 
ulations of the future, the plain injunction, "Cease 
to do evil and learn to do well," is too simple, too 
intelligible, too practicable. That cannot be re- 
ligion. That is only washing to be clean, and every 
man can wash. 

"Ceasing wrong and doing right!" say they. 
" Why, there is no mysterious grace, no wondrous 
plan, no amazing scheme, in that! Every man may 
cease to do evil and learn to do well." Yet the ex- 
pediency of ceasing wrong and doing right, even the 
necessity of this, as essential to immediate, personal, 
true enjoyment, is universally admitted. But still 
it is insisted on, that this is only morality, and not 
religion. Whatever may be meant by morality, 
nothing but a mind carefully instructed in some de- 
fined system of religion could contend that this true 
life of right-doing is not religion. It surely is the 
Scriptural religion. The only sentence in the Bible 



8 



RELIGION A LIFE, 



which literally describes religion is that of James, 
who says, " Pure religion before God and the Father 
is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their af- 
fliction, and keep yourself unspotted from the world." 
In other words, to relieve the wants and promote the 
welfare of others, and carefully preserve yourself from 
moral evil, is pure and undefiled religion before God. 
This is intelligible, direct, and personal. It is not 
an act of instant submission to some suddenly re- 
vealed authority ; it is not to receive some irresisti- 
ble grace ; it is not to make some marked profession 
of faith before men ; it is not at a given moment to 
experience some overwhelming emotion ; it is not a 
mere scrupulous performance of periodical religious 
rites ; it is not to fight, injure, or destroy some fellow- 
man, whom you decide to be a wicked enemy of 
God ; it is not to do some great thing ; it is noth- 
ing sudden, local, special, extraordinary, or astound- 
ing. But it is the daily, regular, constant, and inva- 
riable discharge of ordinary duties, in strict obedi- 
ence to our moral sense, guided by all the divine 
and human light we are able to obtain. In other 
words, religion is ceaseless and useful activity, in 
grateful love to God, and fraternal love to man. He 
who thus reveres God and works righteousness, " in 
any nation," be he Jew or Gentile, is emphatically 
a religious man. The religion which confines itself 
to Sunday and the Church, to preaching, praying, 
Bible-reading, and compliance with external rites, is 
a formal, imperfect, unproductive, and unhappy re- 
ligion. 

The grand design of Jesus, in the principles which 
he propounded and the spirit which he breathed, 



NOT A SPECIAL EXPERIENCE. 



9 



was to sanctify all life, to discover to all eyes the 
divine beauty of perpetual holiness. Not chiefly as 
a means of rescuing from any condemnation to 
misery in a life hereafter, — not chiefly as a means 
of securing happiness in a life to come, — but inde- 
pendent of any possible suffering, joy, or any condi- 
tion whatever in any life hereafter as a motive or an 
object, — he inculcates truth, love, and strict, unde- 
viating virtue, as the essentials of human, spiritual 
enjoyment, here in this human life on earth. And 
we are assured by the whole known or recorded ex- 
perience of man, that these are the indispensable con- 
ditions of all that a rational being can call happi- 
ness. 

It is just here, at the very starting-point, that I 
object with emphasis to every church, system, cere- 
mony, or doctrine, which directs the attention of 
the human mind first and chiefly to another life, 
another world beyond the grave. The more care- 
fully I reflect, the more thoroughly convinced do I 
become, that the chief end of man's existence on 
earth is not to receive something, feel something, 
or discover something peculiar, with direct reference 
to his possible condition after ceasing to be visible 
on earth. There is not a law which Jesus an- 
nounced, not a duty which he inculcated, not a 
principle which he exemplified, not a rule which he 
laid down for human guidance, which does not di- 
rectly and expressly apply to the personal action or 
life of the living mortal man on earth, even if whol- 
ly separate from every idea of reward, punishment, 
misery, or happiness, in the future, invisible, or spir- 
itual state. 



10 



RELIGION A LIFE, 



I feel the importance of placing this point, if pos- 
sible, most distinctly before your minds, that it may 
stand out prominently at all times, as a primary 
truth, relieving you from all obscure, confused, and 
double meanings of theological phraseology. Jesus 
did not propose to save any man from any eternal 
misery to which he was naturally doomed. He did 
not propose to secure to any man a right to any 
eternal heaven from which he was naturally exclud- 
ed. But he proposed, by his own principles, and 
character, and spirit, proclaimed in all that he him- 
self did, and all that happened to him, to teach man 
how to live, truly, purely, peacefully, perfectly; and 
to live always so, leaving not only eternity, the fu- 
ture, but even to-morrow, even the next hour, to take 
care of itself, to come as it might, — assured that, in 
the course of such a life, it could never come unsea- 
sonably, never could come wrong. His teaching is, 
Take no anxiety about to-morrow, but perform the 
duty which lies immediately before you. Live in 
truth, in love, loyal to your sense of right, now, to- 
day, and leave to-morrow to make provision for 
itself. The divinest wisdom marks this instruction. 
It is the truest philosophy of action. A pure and 
perfect life, lived and enjoyed to-day, is in fact the 
completed preparation for every possible life which 
may come to-morrow, whether it should come on 
this side or the other side of death. 

As to comfort merely in the hour of dissolution, 
all observation proves that every religious faith, 
Pagan, Jewish, or Christian, is equally efficacious. 
Every class of religionists, sectarians, and theorists 
actually finds a sustaining power in its peculiar doc- 



NOT A SPECIAL EXPERIENCE. 



11 



trine or belief ; and some of every class imagine 
they find evidence of truth in that comforting expe- 
rience at death. What was I before I lived on earth ? 
what am I to be when I shall cease to live on earth? 
These are not the first and principal concerns to me. 
These are not the inquiries demanding my imme- 
diate thought. But, What am I now? what are 
now my capabilities ? and how can these capabili- 
ties be best improved ? These are the all-important 
points to be determined. These determined correct- 
ly, then as to the future all my solicitudes are at an 
end. You are well aware, that Christianity is re- 
garded by many of the good and wise who study it, 
as a scheme, a plan, or expedient, having reference 
originally and exclusively to the final condition of 
human souls in another world. This I think is a 
very sad mistake. The constant direction of the 
mind towards the unseen existence occasions the 
neglect of immediate duties, retards the present 
mental and moral progress of the man, diminishing 
greatly and unnecessarily the sum of present human 
happiness, by painful anxieties which weaken the 
moral energies, and which in any event cannot be 
supposed to increase our qualifications for any con- 
dition in eternity. He who gratefully regards this 
world which he beholds, as now the important place 
of his existence, and gives himself heartily to the 
development of all his own faculties, laboring for 
the amelioration of his fellow-men, — in that devel- 
opment and effort finding cheerful, rational, and 
pure enjoyment as he passes on, can be affected by 
no fears of the future, save those implanted by early 
miseducation, or reflected from a common supersti- 
tion. 



12 



RELIGION A LIFE, 



" He that humbleth himself as this little child," 
said Jesus, "the same is greatest among you." 
This expression embraces a vast depth of mean- 
ing. The little child entertains no fear of death. It 
knows no traditions of a fall, a curse, or an angry 
Deity. Dissolution has no terrors for its spirit. Yet 
in the present imperfect knowledge of the laws of 
life among mankind the child often dies. It dies, 
having complied with no special terms of faith, hav- 
ing shown no special experience of grace, having 
done no great thing'. Its moral condition is that of 
all of us at a corresponding period of life. Thus it 
is manifest that we learn to do wrong, that we learn 
to fear, as we grow in years, moulded by the theo- 
ries which surround us, and, perhaps, living all our 
lifetime under bondage to the fear of death. How- 
ever angular and iron-bound their theology, however 
their creeds may tyrannize over their intellects, but 
few will dare to say that any child who dies is 
doomed to a final misery in consequence of a fall 
or act of Adam, or of any man, ages before the child 
existed. Neither have we any ground for the pre- 
sumption, that the child's spirit is instantly trans- 
formed, by omnipotent power, into that maturity 
which would qualify it for the enjoyment of a heaven 
adapted to the ripest intellects which pass from earth. 
The only reasonable supposition, if we must sup- 
pose at all, is that, immediately following death, the 
spirit of the child is still the spirit of a child. It is 
not a man, nor an angel, nor a seraph, nor a cherub ; 
but simply the unperverted, unstained, undeveloped 
spirit of a child. In the spiritual state, it begins its 
spiritual unfolding, at the stage from which it quit- 



NOT A SPECIAL EXPERIENCE. 



13 



ted its bodily existence, and continues a progressive 
life of purity, in obedience to divine laws of spirit- 
ual being, — its enjoyment corresponding with its 
true capacities. 

Let man then restore himself as far as possible to 
the condition of the little child, seeking only, and ex- 
pecting only, truth, wisdom, and love, — unrestrained 
and undepressed by traditions of a cursed and fall- 
en nature, unembarrassed by groundless terrors and 
empty speculations concerning remote and eternal 
possibilities. Let him increase his knowledge of 
himself, and of the great sphere of surrounding na- 
ture, thus accomplishing the true object of his exist- 
ence, by enjoying the happiness of a rational and 
moral being. The mature man will then leave this 
world tranquilly and fearlessly as the child leaves it, 
and continue his spiritual existence according to his 
spiritual development. Such, as I conceive, is the 
childlike humility which Jesus inculcated, and not a 
mere servile, cringing homage, which expects to con- 
ciliate the all-perfect God by resigning itself to what 
it may please to style " the mysterious ways of Provi- 
dence." In such an energetic, truly humble career 
on earth, there seems to be something like a philos- 
ophy of life. 

Let no one seek for remarkable experiences of 
emotion, or mental excitement, as evidence of relig- 
ious change, or divinely communicated grace. For 
nothing is easier than to produce such experiences 
by the use of common and well-known expedients. 
Every church can produce them, and nearly every 
form of faith does produce them, and actually fan- 
cies that it finds in them divine confirmation of its 
2 



14 



RELIGION A LIFE, 



peculiar creed. This presumption, therefore, can 
only be regarded as a very sorrowful self-deception. 
God never contradicts himself, truth never contra- 
dicts itself. 

Religion is never at war with common duties. 
However you may distinguish, you never can sepa- 
rate religion from morality. Every human being 
has his course of duties to perform, however narrow 
or extended may be the sphere in which he moves. 
The exercise of many virtues is required in all our 
commonest relations, and uniformly and truly to 
exercise these virtues is to be religious. So essen- 
tial are benevolent actions, honest purposes, and 
pure affections, to our real temporal happiness, that 
no special experience of religion, nor any creed or 
faith which we can embrace respecting the soul's 
final destiny, can render them indispensable. You 
may seek the man, (and he is not difficult to find, 
for there are many such, both in society at large 
and in the churches,) who, from conflicting and 
shocking views of the future, or from any cause, 
loses all faith in the existence of the soul at all, 
after the event of dissolution, and with that man 
every virtuous affection, virtuous purpose, and virtu- 
ous action is just as essential to his personal im- 
provement and temporal enjoyment, as it is to the 
temporal happiness of the most undoubting believer, 
not only in a future existence of the soul, but even 
in eternal rewards and punishments. This is pre- 
cisely what I would impress indelibly upon every 
mind, namely, the universal necessity of a strictly 
religious spirit, in all the relations and all the trans- 
actions of a social being, as the only terms of per- 



NOT A SPECIAL EXPERIENCE. 



15 



sonal progress and temporal enjoyment, apart from 
every creed concerning man's nature, and from every 
theory concerning the final destiny of the soul. The 
most decided disbelief in the soul's existence after 
death cannot alter in the least these immutable 
conditions. So that it is obviously one of the plain- 
est mistakes which a man can make, to suppose that 
any creed he can adopt respecting hell or heaven 
after death can either suspend or abrogate the natu- 
ral laws of his present being, the invariable terms of 
his physical and true mental enjoyment. Were this 
simple truth more generally remembered, I appre- 
hend there would be infinitely less anxiety to define 
church creeds respecting the invisible state beyond 
the tomb. A natural, just, and manly life, lived 
here, would leave no room in any human bosom 
concerning anything now hidden in the impenetra- 
ble future. There is no more absolute necessity for 
vice and wrong on earth, than there can be in any 
heaven of which we have a reasonable conception. 
There is no more absolute necessity for sin and suf- 
fering on earth, than there can be in a future heaven. 

Let us wash then, and be clean, — not seeking to 
do or experience some great thing, but ceasing' to do 
evil, and learning to do well. Let each resolute 
soul, whatever its measure of faith as to that which 
lies in the unseen before it, find in this divine world 
of God a blessing and a joy, a home, and something 
of a heaven. The call then to another sta^e of the 
eternal life, will never come at an unseasonable 
hour ; the voice of death will never be discordant, 
but will float like music to the ear of the listening 
spirit. 



16 



RELIGION A LIFE. 



Surely a broader light is breaking on mankind, 
and a more comprehensive knowledge is destined to 
sweeten all the bitterness of life, expanding the 
spirit of selfishness and jealousy into the breadth 
and warmth of brotherly affection. A searching and 
sanctified science is revealing the unity which exists 
in nature's diversity, the oneness of beauty which 
arises from the multiplicity of forms, and the moral 
unity of all human souls. Human freedom and the 
capacities of mind are great and undeniable facts, 
and as the great moral interests of man are more 
and more seen to be similar and common, the flame 
of fraternal sympathy will burn more brightly, — the 
gloom which obscure and selfish theologies have 
thrown round human life will vanish away, — the 
grand harmonies of God's beneficence will appear 
to the eyes of the human understanding, and will 
sound along through the experience of the soul. We 
are all discovering that the indispensable condition 
of present and all progress, of present and all true 
and pure enjoyment, is the divine and essential ele- 
ment of human love. 



DISCOURSE II. 



A RELIGION TO LIVE BY, THE BEST RELIGION TO 
DIE BY. 

BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL IvXOW THEM. Matt. Vli. 20. 

DELIVER THEM WHO THROUGH FEAR OF DEATH WERE ALL 

their lifetime subject to boxdage. — Hebrews ii. 15. 

There is a singular attraction round a death-bed 
at the last hour of a human being's mortal existence. 
The departing spirit may be one on whom success 
has ever smiled, — one whose life has been like a 
long summer day,, only now and then interrupted by 
passing clouds, leaving ever a brighter sky behind. 
Or it may be one whose life may seem to have been 
one great misfortune, one whose attendants appear 
always to have been disappointment and depriva- 
tion, toil and tears. But whether one or the other, 
it is with intense interest, with thrilling anxiety, that 
we linger round the struggling spirit, when about t<? 
leave the feeble, fainting body. We bend to catcL 
the last whisper, and to mark the last smile of rec- 
ognition before the eye grows dim, and the lips be- 
come motionless ; and never, never do we blot from 
memory the pressure of the cold hand, as for the 
2* 



18 



A RELIGION TO LIVE BY, 



last time it falls powerless from our own. These 
are scenes of every hour's, every moment's occur- 
rence. It is computed, and the computation is quite 
within the truth, that every second, with every vibra- 
tion of the pendulum, a spirit leaves its earthly body. 
Every hour is the dying hour to many, every mo- 
ment is to some the final moment here. 

With deep interest we are prone to dwell on the 
details of incidents which mark the dying hour of 
those whom we revere, whom we esteem or love. 
Indeed, a minute description of the last earthly mo- 
ments of any human being seems to possess a 
strangely fascinating power. Again and again do 
we peruse such narratives, till we have fully realized 
their truth, and then we wonder where — where 
the spirit is. What would we then give could we 
but for an instant draw aside the veil that hangs 
before the invisible world, and catch a glimpse, 
the faintest glimpse, of that now unseen exist- 
ence ! How impatient we become at times to 
know what we all soon, very, soon, shall fully un- 
derstand ! 

It is not surprising that we are so prone to as- 
sociate the last moments of earthly existence with 
the supposed present condition of the departed 
spirit. The transition from this to that condition, 
at its final stage, is to all appearance so easy, so 
instantaneous, so complete, that it seems scarcely 
possible to draw even an imaginary line between 
them. This tendency of the emotions to lead us into 
a region of pure conjecture has been indulged so 
generally as to have become a serious abuse, which 
sober reason rarely pauses to correct. The frequent 



THE BEST RELIGION TO DIE BY. 



19 



delineation of death-bed scenes, in sermons and re- 
ligious writings of every kind, has led and still leads 
to serious misapprehension. It appears to be an al- 
most universal feeling, if not belief, that Religion 
is something designed only for the dying, — a sort 
of medicine prepared in heaven by Infinite Goodness, 
to soothe the sufferings of men in the hour of their 
departure. It is, not unfrequently, deemed conclu- 
sive of the value of a form of religious faith, to say 
that "it is a good religion by which to live, but a 
poor religion by which to die." The scenes of the 
last hour of some distinguished professing Christian 
are very frequently described, and urged as evidence 
of the correctness of his religious vieius, and almost 
as frequently urged as indisputable evidence of the 
divinity of the Christian religion. 

It is among the most remarkable of things, that 
Christian writers and Christian ministers fail to 
perceive the utter futility of all arguments of this 
nature. For such arguments, if proof at all, prove 
more, far more, than those who employ them may 
at a superficial view imagine. Indeed, if they prove 
anything, they will prove everything, as to religious 
opinions. No testimony is less to be relied on, as 
to a man's real character and life, than the testimony 
of a dying hour. 

There have been Christians, and those who nev- 
er pretended to be Christians, those who never 
knew of Christianity, whose whole life may be 
likened to a calm and brilliant day ; — its dawn clear 
and mild, growing brighter and brighter to its ze- 
nith, then growing milder and more varied in its 
beauty, till its last golden light has stolen away, 



20 



A RELIGION TO LIVE BY, 



and left survivors wondering at the silent grandeur 
of its passage. But it is mournfully true, that 
such lives, like such days, are very few and far be- 
tween. 

If, however, the serenity of a dying hour demon- 
strates the correctness of a man's religious views, 
then the doctrines of every religion and of every sect 
have been proved true, beyond any question. Every 
religion and every sect has had its martyrs. Here 
in our own land, have we not beheld hundreds of 
the followers of the sincere but visionary prophet 
Miller, leave their business and their homes and 
friends, to await the second advent of Jesus, and 
when death summoned them before they could 
behold the expected earthly glory, have they not 
gone joyfully, to all appearance wrapt in ecstatic 
spiritual visions of the future ? Have we not seen 
the believers in the Book of Mormon dissolve the 
most endearing relations, sacrifice their property, 
forsake the homes of their childhood and the graves 
of their friends, brave the ocean's storms and a thou- 
sand perils, only to lay their bodies among their 
saints on the shores of the Mississippi ? 

What experienced minister of any sect, Methodist, 
Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, or any other, 
has not heard the last accents of his dying parish- 
ioner expressing unshaken confidence in the faith 
of his fathers ? And when the voice has become too 
feeble to utter words, the dying man has smiled in 
satisfaction, and passed, apparently with unutterable 
rapture, into the world of celestial joys. 

Have not hundreds of Calvinists died rejoicing in 
the faith that God would alike vindicate his glory 



THE BEST RELIGION TO DIE BY. 



21 



by the endless songs of the elect in heaven, and 
by the endless groans of the condemned in hell? 
And have not hundreds of Universalists died also 
rejoicing in the faith that, by a direct exercise of *the 
divine power, all earth's sorrows would soon be 
blotted out, and every living soul unite in endless 
hallelujahs of redeeming love ? 

Have not thousands of Trinitarians died firmly re- 
lying on what they called the merits of the Saviour's 
death or blood? And have not thousands of Uni- 
tarians died rejoicing in the spirit of the Saviour's 
teachings, and cheered by the consciousness of hav- 
ing endeavored to imitate the virtue of the Saviour's 
holy life ? 

Have not myriads of Protestants died clasping the 
Bible to their bosoms, and rejoicing in the ministra- 
tions of the church which they have chosen? And 
have not myriads of Roman Catholics died gladly 
pressing the cross to their pale lips, and breathing 
a last prayer to the " Blessed Virgin, Mother of 
God"? 

And what does all this prove as to the correctness 
of their respective views ? As proof it is entirely 
destitute of value, — for what equally proves all, 
proves none, certainly, to be correct. 

It is my own deliberately expressed conviction, 
that no one thing has done more, no one thing 
now does more, to create unnecessary suspicion, and 
confirm groundless scepticism, than the continual 
appeals of the pulpit to the death-bed scenes of in- 
dividuals, as evidence of the truth of particular 
religious views, or even as evidence of the divine 
authority of the Christian religion. 



22 



A RELIGION TO LIVE BY, 



For numbers of intelligent men, who either have 
not the inclination, or do not take the time, to dis- 
tinguish between Christian truth and Christian 
creeds, between the Christian spirit and the Christian 
name, have common perception and common sense 
enough to perceive that all such arguments as death- 
bed scenes present, are mere sound and words, signi- 
fying nothing, either as to character, religion, or the 
future. They have probably read accounts of the death 
scenes of some of the most formidable enemies of 
Christianity, (that is, of those who confounded Chris- 
tianity with that around them which called itself 
Christianity, and against which they contended, on 
its own ground,) and they have seen men like Hume 
and Gibbon, (names well known among the oppos- 
ed of what called itself Christianity,) and others, 
without Bible, without priest or prayer, without a 
syllable about religion in their dying hours, in the 
full possession of their faculties, with serene confi- 
dence passing from the body, calmly as an infant in 
its mother's arms sinks into its evening slumbers. 
To thoughtful men seeing, knowing all this, what 
folly to say, as ministers so often do, " Ah ! you 
will see your error when you come to die ! " 

And moreover, it is no uncommon thing to see 
Christians of any name, members of any church, 
men who leave behind them an honored memory, 
who have striven to live truly by their faith, and 
who have left lasting monuments of truly Christian 
excellence, — it is no uncommon thing to see such 
departing in almost hopeless despondency of mind, 
and fearful agony of body. 



THE BEST RELIGION TO DIE BY. 



23 



" A man's life may be all ease, and his death, 
By some dark chance, unthought-of agony. 
Or life may be all suffering, and decease 
A flower-like sleep ; or both be full of woe, 
Or each, comparatively painless." 

Do not the class referred to, — those who judge 
of Christianity by the practice of its professors, — do 
they not see Christian ministers offering prayers and 
preaching sermons in honor of men who have fallen 
on the field of battle, — some of whom (for it is 
only just to say that it is not always so) have never 
made pretensions to religion of any form, under any 
name, but who spent their last breath in shouts of 
triumph to urge their fellow-soldiers on to human 
slaughter, to victory or death ? Do ministers pre- 
sume men generally to be so obtuse in their percep- 
tions, as not to discover the gross inconsistency of 
preaching religion in the church, as something indis- 
pensable by which to die, and at the same time be- 
stowing the highest honors on the memory of men 
who die in open disregard of all that these ministers 
themselves call religion ? Do we not also see men 
who are sentenced by the law for capital crime, dis- 
daining to the last all religious counsel, ascend the 
scaffold with an unfaltering step, with unmoved 
countenance adjust the instruments of death, salute 
respectfully the gazing throng, then, with perhaps a 
lie upon their lips, pass from life with a heroic calm- 
ness which puts to shame the unmanly indecision 
and unchristian fears of men who have been ac- 
counted saints within the church ? 

Still more, — to go beyond the pale of Christen- 
dom, — the Jew, to this day, in every land, still 
hopes for the Messiah's coming, and when he dies, 



24 



A RELIGION TO LIVE BY, 



dies joyfully, in the faith that Jehovah will yet re- 
store to his chosen Zion their long-lost Jerusalem. 
The believer in the Koran, to this hour, when he 
feels death's chilling finger on his brow, turns his 
countenance towards the pilgrim shrine of Mecca, 
— with his fainting voice whispers, " Allah is God 
and Mahomet is his prophet," — and without a 
murmur his soul passes, as his sorrowing friends 
believe, to eat of the fruit of the tree of Paradise, 
in one of the seven heavens. "Even the spirit of 
the Pagan obeys without complaint the summons 
of his many deities ; and while his widow, under 
a sense of duty, ascends his funeral pyre, the ashes 
of both are soon scattered by the whistling winds. 

The aboriginal of our own continent, the noble 
Indian, never shrinks from death, but rather courts 
death than lose revenge, sweet revenge, for wrong 
inflicted on his tribe. And often, when the spirit 
has gone, surviving friends with songs of triumph 
convey the body to its resting-place, leaving it with 
its face turned towards the rising sun, whither the 
soul has gone, as they conceive, to the land of the 
Great Spirit, where no civilized race can drive him 
from his hunting-grounds, or rob him of his home. 

Do these incontestable facts prove that every re- 
ligion is true, — equally true ? Unquestionably they 
do, if the common use of such arguments be just. 
The legitimate inference, on this principle, mani- 
festly is, that every religion, and every dogma of 
every religion, that administers comfort in a dying 
hour, is true. 

But here let us discern the great distinction be- 
tween the nature of Christianity and that of the va- 



THE BEST RELIGION TO DIE BY. 



25 



rious systems of religion which have existed and do 
yet exist. Every other religion has assumed that 
man is sinful and must sin, and that religion is only 
a plan or scheme to save him from the alleged effects 
of sin, the wrath of an offended God, — implying the 
essential imperfection of both man and deity. This 
radical error of other religions was brought from their 
respective systems by the early converts of every na- 
tion, — especially the Roman and the Greek, — and 
soon was incorporated with the dogmas of Chris- 
tianity, — till it has become, and is at this hour, the 
prevailing vital mistake of almost every Christian 
sect, exclusive and liberal. A most serious mistake 
certainly this is. 

What is the true object of human existence ? If all 
nature speak not falsely, if all experience deceive 
us not, the whole physical, mental, and moral con- 
stitution of man declares, in terms too emphatical 
to admit of a single doubt, that the chief purpose 
of his being is to educe, to unfold, and to perfect his 
faculties. And all nature and all natural influences, 
all society and all social influences, the heavens, 
the earth, the air, all things above, beneath, and 
around him, are the means, the instruments, by which 
this purpose is here to be commenced and here to be 
prosecuted. 

The development of the man, the formation of char- 
acter, is the great end of all human effort. What is 
character, do you ask ? Character is the expres- 
sion, the utterance, the exhibition of the soul, of the 
governing spirit of the man, in the daily, hourly life. 
The character is meritorious or censurable, good 
or bad, as the life is virtuous or vicious, true or false. 
3 



26 



A RELIGION TO LIVE BY, 



Christianity, far from being a mere anodyne to 
soothe the suffering of a dying hour, is a statement 
of principles on which the character is to be formed, 

— a statement of rules by which the life is to be 
governed; and Jesus of Nazareth is not only the 
propounder, but the living embodiment, of those prin- 
ciples, — a living example, a complete illustration, of 
the practicability of these rules. The first and most 
important end of Christianity is, to teach us how 
to live, not how to die. 

Read all the teachings of Jesus himself, — follow 
him through his Sermon on the Mount (fifth, sixth 
and seventh chapters of Matthew, and the completest 
summary of his teachings that we have left to us), — 
and unquestionably, if there be a Christian sermon 
in the world, it is the sermon of the Christ himself, 

— and what do you find ? Constant reference to 
death or dying, constant representation that prepara-' 
tion for death is the origin, the end, or object of re- 
ligion ? No, not a syllable of this kind; but this 
satisfactory and most comprehensive discourse of 
Jesus is a compendium of doctrines, rules, and pre- 
cepts for the daily life of man, without a word of 
reference to death. Read that discourse, and you 
will find that " Do unto others as you would that 
others should do unto you," — "Love thy God and 
love thy neighbor," — are the sum and substance of 
all the teachings of Jesus. And what gives to these 
principles their peculiar power is this, that he proved 
them to be practicable, he lived them fairly out, 
he enforced them even at the sacrifice of present 
life. 

A man's dying joyfully in any certain form of faith 



THE BEST RELIGION TO DIE BY. 



27 



cannot prove that faith to be correct. The whole 
history of the world, as we have seen, testifies that 
men may die, that men have died, calmly, heroi- 
cally, and, in the common use of terms, gloriously, in 
every faith, — Heathen, Mahometan, Jewish, and 
Christian. It can be no credit to a religion that it 
is good to die by, for any religion is good enough 
for that ; but the religion to live by is the religion 
the world wants. A man may become so pervaded 
with a firm conviction of any religion, or may be so 
destitute of all religion (as thousands on the battle- 
field attest), or may be so sternly, stoically indiffer- 
ent to all things, as to be sustained in a dying hour, 
and enabled to bid adieu to earth without a murmur. 
Even the victims of ungodly anarchy in France, with 
the awful guillotine awaiting them, could write on 
their prison walls, " When trouble comes, it is easy 
to despise death." 

The firm Roman never shrank from death, and 
sometimes welcomed it with levity. It is said that 
the Emperor Caligula had a dispute with Caius Ju- 
lius, and, to cut the matter short, the Emperor said 
to him : " Do not flatter yourself, for I have ordered 
you to be put to death." Caius knew the certainty 
of what the Emperor declared, and when the officer 
came with a warrant for his immediate execution, 
he was playing at a game of chess. Caius received 
the summons with all imaginable indifference, and, 
as he had to leave the game unfinished, only desired 
the centurion to bear witness after his death that he 
had the best of the game. Then, turning to some 
friends, he took leave of them, saying : " You here 
are disputing about the immortality of the soul, 



28 



A RELIGION TO LIVE BY, 



I am now going to be convinced of the truth ; if I 
make any discovery on that point, you shall hear 
of it." 

What a time is that to. determine the truth of a 
man's doctrine, or the reality of a man's character, 
when disease has racked his body, and unbalanced 
his mind, and perhaps dethroned his reason ! 

Do you ask, then, wherein consists the superiority 
of Christianity ? I answer, the pre-eminence, the 
grand feature, the great glory, of Christianity is, 
that it is a body of principles and precepts of uni- 
versal application, to direct and guard and aid man 
all through life, and not a mere scheme to comfort 
him in death; — that so far as it is a system, it is a 
system of life made holy, and not a plan of death 
made easy. 

Death, — separation of body and spirit, — does this 
terminate existence ? No ; what we call death is 
not an end of life. It is only an event in life. Not 
indeed an unimportant event. It is important, #s 
being the termination of one stage of being, — the 
end of the first term of our existence, — a landing- 
place in the eternal progress, — and the importance 
of religion in connection with the circumstance of 
death, whatever that importance may be, depends 
entirely upon the relation of religion to the previous 
life. 

If the requirements of Christianity have been dis- 
regarded through the whole life, all religious forms 
and rites and ministrations are, in the hour of death, 
nothing more than useless ceremonies, — or even 
worse, as tending to aggravate the very evils they 
are designed to mitigate. For the officious and 



THE BEST RELIGION TO DIE BY. 



29 



ill-timed anxiety of clergymen at the death-bed 
often destroys both the peace of mind and repose 
of body which the dying man otherwise would 
have. 

Paul coincides with Jesus in expressing the prao 
tical character of Christianity. " Though I under 
stand all mysteries," he says, " and all knowledge 
and though I have all faith, so that I could remove 
mountains, and have not love, I am nothing, it prof- 
iteth me nothing." 

The only criterion of moral or religious character 
that is at once Scriptural and reasonable, is this, 
from the discourse of Jesus : " By their fruits ye 
shall know them." 

To determine the value of a tree, would you view 
it only when its naked limbs are quivering in the 
wintry blast, and the last withered leaf is just falling 
to the ground ? Or would you trace it through its 
budding and its blooming, and the fulness of its 
foliage, till you reach the ripeness of its fruit ? So 
in determining human character, — as far as human 
judgment may determine, — we must take in our 
hands the golden rule left to us by Jesus, and by 
that rule measure a man's deeds, through. the whole 
general tenor of his life ; instead of daring, — for 
it is bold presumption, — by the last scene in the 
last act of this earthly drama, to pronounce upon the 
whole performance. 

Though it might not, in any given instance, be 
conclusive testimony as to absolute rectitude of pre- 
vious life, yet it evinces a mind at ease, a desirable 
serenity, to be able at the dying moment to say, 
with the lately deceased chief magistrate of our 
3* 



30 



A RELIGION TO LIVE BY, 



country, " I have endeavored to do my duty, I fear 
nothing, I am prepared." 

" We live in deeds, not yeai*s, — in thoughts, not breaths, 
In feelings, not in figures on a dial ; 
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives 
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best." 

The last expressions and acts of our dying friends, 
it is true, possess to us peculiar interest as associated 
with the last and tenderest remembrances of those 
we love, and last words are often treasured as pre- 
cious memorials. They may indicate to us the same 
spirit that has pervaded and ruled the past life, — 
they may exhibit the ruling passion strong in death. 
But to the stranger they can afford no criterion for 
judging of past character, and they can afford no 
index, more than previous acts afforded, of the un- 
seen future. 

Let us but endeavor to study the precepts of Jesus 
thoroughly, and to imbibe the spirit of Jesus deeply, 
and to walk by the example of Jesus faithfully, and 
it matters little how or where this earthly scene 
shall terminate. Tn an instant, in the twinkling of 
an eye, we may be — as thousands are by the daily 
accidents of life — hurled from the visible realities 
of time into the now invisible realities of eternity ; 
or, protracted, painful, withering disease may strain 
every heartstring to its utmost tension, before the 
last mortal cord be broken ; and howsoever it may 
come, let but the fainting vision of the struggling 
spirit be cheered by the retrospect of a conscientious 
and generous activity, and death will be welcomed 
by us as a heavenly escort to a higher sphere, where 
the disencumbered soul may discern more clearly, 



THE BEST RELIGION TO DIE BY. 



31 



expand more freely, and advance more rapidly, — 
while hosts of friendly spirits may greet us with a 
long, inspiring burst of sympathetic joy, joy inex- 
pressible and full of glory. 



DISCOURSE III. 



RELIGION AND MORALITY. 

PURE RELIGION, AND UNDEFILED BEFORE GOD AND THE 
FATHER, IS THIS, TO "VISIT THE FATHERLESS AND WIDOWS 
IN THEIR AFFLICTION, AND TO KEEP HIMSELF UNSPOTTED 

from the world. — James i. 27. 

The term Religion is one of those terms which 
are in universal, but vague and uncertain use. It 
has become a technical, a professional term, and 
yet it might be supposed, by one unfamiliar with 
our language, that the term had and could have but 
one obvious signification. Were the question pro- 
pounded to those in daily employment of this term, 
What is Religion ? thousands would find themselves 
involved in unaccountable mystery, simply because 
they supposed that they had always had a distinct 
and satisfactory understanding of the term. Has a 
man found religion, or obtained religion ? is a very 
common inquiry. But, What is religion ? is a very 
rare one. Does a man profess religion ? is an in- 
quiry you may frequently hear made. But, Is that 
man a " religious man"? is a question seldom of- 
fered for reply. 



RELIGION AND MORALITY. 



33 



Has a man obtained religion ? implies that it is 
some essence or substance, which is somehow to 
come into a man's possession, — a kind of treasure 
which, when once found, is never to be lost, but to 
be preserved as a sort of talisman or charm around 
the person. Does a man profess religion ? implies, 
that it is a creed or system of some sort, — a doctrine 
or belief which is to be declared or professed, — this 
profession constituting one a possessor of religion, 
or in some way securing to him its benefits. 

But both these ideas are incorrect, — they are es- 
sentially defective ; for religion is not an essence 
or a substance, which, like silver or gold, is to be ob- 
tained and secured in a man's possession. Neither 
is religion a doctrine or belief to be professed, and by 
such profession to secure some favors or privileges. 
It is neither something to be procured, nor is it a 
belief to be professed. Religion is a term expressive 
of the quality of certain human actions, of certain 
human characters, — just as purity or patience, gen- 
tleness or goodness, describes the quality of certain 
actions, or the quality of certain characters in man. 
Religion is a word descriptive of certain relations 
and certain duties of man. In strict propriety, no one 
possesses purity, no one possesses patience, — that is, 
he does not find or obtain them as he finds money or 
obtains property ; but he may be a pure man, or a 
patient man ; these terms simply describe his mental 
or moral qualities. In strict propriety, no one ob- 
tains or holds gentleness or goodness as a possession, 
like a house or tract of land ; but he may be a gentle- 
man or a good man, these terms being descriptive 
of his personal characteristics. 



34 RELIGION AND MORALITY. 

So is religion a word applicable to certain relations, 
duties, actions, of a man, personally ; and it is not a 
something material, a species of property to be ac- 
quired. 

There is no propriety, therefore, in asking whether 
or not a man has obtained religion, or whether a man 
has professed religion ; but there is a proper and all- 
important question, namely, Is he a religious man ? 
Are his actions and his life such as may be de- 
scribed by the word religious ? For the word relig- 
ious cannot describe a man's person, a man's body, 
— it cannot describe his business or profession, — 
it cannot describe his property, his houses or his 
lands ; it can only describe his spirit and his life, 
as manifested by his actions. To say that a man is 
religious, is not to express a peculiarity of a single 
act or series of acts at a given time and under pe- 
culiar circumstances, but it is to express the whole 
character, the uniform tenor, of a man's life. He is 
not logically, or necessarily, or strictly a religious 
man who offers prayers, who hears sermons and 
reads Bibles, who supports foreign missions and be- 
longs to some society called a church. Religion 
does not consist in doing these things except so far 
as these are portions of a whole life, a uniform course 
of actions in conformity with these. A man may 
most cordially and liberally support a mission in 
India, and at the same time be supporting a gam- 
bling-house in his own vicinity. A man may be- 
long to some church, and at the same time belong 
to some association whose direct design is to de- 
fraud and take advantage of his fellow-men. A 
man may hear sermons most patiently, and read 



RELIGION AND MORALITY. 



35 



the Bible most seriously, every Sunday, and at the 
same time he may read the most immoral works, 
and listen patiently to the most wicked plans, all 
through the week. A man may every morning by 
his bedside, or every evening at the prayer-meeting, 
utter most fervent and hearty prayers, while at the 
same time through the day little else than curses, 
reproaches, and abuse may be uttered by his lips. 

Now such a man — and there are such men — 
may be profuse in his professions, and ardent in con- 
fessing sinfulness ; he may be generous in support- 
ing missions, and may be eloquent in prayer: he 
may be a faithful church-goer, and a diligent Bible- 
reader ; he may be called a devout man and a pro- 
fessor of religion; — but whatever he is, he is very 
far from being a religious man in any proper sense, — 
in any Christian sense he is anything but a religious 
man. One of the most unhappy distinctions, that is, 
one of the most pernicious in its effects ever drawn, 
whether by logicians or theologians, is that drawn 
between religion and morality. Religion seems to 
be understood as expressing only our relations and 
duties toward God, and morality as only expressing 
our relations and duties toward man. The grand 
defect in all doctrinal systems or revelations pre- 
ceding Christianity, and all beside Christianity, is, 
that they undervalue or overlook one class of duties 
in their scrupulous observation of another class. 
They have been devised with relation to God only, 
and not with relation to man also. So it has been 
with every Pagan system or form of worship ; by 
sacrifices and prayers and rites they have endeav- 
ored to conciliate the various deities, and so to se- 



36 



RELIGION AND MORALITY. 



cure personal favor or exemption from some fancied 
or real evil. The same defect was characteristic of. 
the Hebrew dispensation. Sacrifices and ceremo- 
nies, burdensome rites and external worship, were 
the means employed to win the favor and avert the 
anger of the omnipotent, and, as supposed, offended 
Jehovah. By the early converts, of whom the first 
Christians were composed, from the various forms 
of Paganism, as well as from the superior and more 
spiritual form of Judaism, this essential error was 
engrafted upon Christianity, and has been perpetu- 
ated till this hour. Nothing is more common among 
the churches of Christian denominations, than to 
hear religion exalted and eulogized, as the inestima- 
ble grace of God, and morality depreciated, as only 
the filthy rags of righteousness of man. 

Thus reverence for the Divine Being becomes all 
in all, — beneficence to our fellow-man is little, or 
even worse than nothing ; — as if God were but a 
universal monarch, whose happiness consisted in 
receiving confessions of humility from his subjects, 
offerings of incense and songs of praise and words 
of adulation, — all the more acceptable as man may 
humble himself by acts of bodily homage, and forget 
his fellow-man in devotion to his Sovereign, and 
despise the world out of reverence for its majestic 
Ruler. A most woful perversion of the whole spirit 
of Christianity ! To remedy this defect of all pre- 
vious forms of worship was a purpose of Jesus the 
Anointed, the Divine Teacher, — prominent in his 
whole career, — alike discernible in his precepts and 
his example. " Peace on earth and good-will among 
men," are the words which describe his message. 



RELIGION AND MORALITY. 



37 



" He went about doing good, rejoicing with those who 
rejoiced, and weeping with those who wept," are the 
words which describe his life. To show the futility 
of sacrifices, ceremonies, rites, and external forms, 
— except so far as these may be made beneficent 
agents of man's improvement, — was a design most 
manifest in all his addresses to his Hebrew country- 
men. 

This passage of St. James is remarkable, as being 
the only instance in the Bible in which religion is 
literally defined. The word religion is never used 
in the Old Testament, and except in this chapter is 
but three times employed in the New Testament. 
In all of these three instances it is used by St. Paul 
in its most general sense, to signify the dispensa- 
tion or religion, the mode of worship, in which he 
was educated ; as we say, the Hindoo religion, the 
Mohammedan religion, the Christian religion, not 
alluding in detail to opinions, doctrines, or rites. 
But in this solitary instance is the term religion 
defined in its particular and practical signification. 
St. James is advising Christians generally, and 
naming certain practical tests of a true Christian 
character; and having just declared in reference to 
the man who seems to be religious, yet bridles not 
his own tongue, as he expresses it, — does not speak 
in charity and kindness, — that such a man's relig- 
ion is vain, that he deceives his own heart, probably 
substituting some external observance for the exer- 
cise of a fraternal spirit, then he makes this distinct 
announcement :-" Pure religion, and undefiled be- 
fore God and the Father, is this, To visit the father- 
less and the widow in their affliction, and to keep 
4 



38 



RELIGION AND MORALITY. 



himself unspotted from the world." ^Tow this un- 
ambiguous description of religion, and the only one 
in the Bible, is considered very defective if judged 
by the doctrinal standards of our times. It an- 
nounces no fundamental doctrines, not one of the 
articles of faith which all church creeds declare to be 
essential. It says nothing of any irresistible grace 
to be received, it mentions nothing to be professed, 
but something to be done. And that something, 
moreover, is to be done to our fellow-man, the fa- 
therless and the widow representing every other 
human being who may require our aid, our sympa- 
thy, consolation, or encouragement. This active 
beneficence, with the preservation of the individual 
himself unspotted from the world, that is, unstained 
by the vicious influences operating in society, is relig- 
ion according to St. James. Nothing is said of our 
direct relation to God, our special duty to him ; but 
the sacred writer places in bold relief our duties toward 
our fellow-men and to ourselves, — implying clearly, 
that in discharging these duties in the spirit of true 
fraternity, we are acting in obedience to the require- 
ments of God our Father. We are thus offering 
him the highest homage ; our sacrifice is that of a 
loving soul, the purest and noblest of all worship. 
But this is only morality, say many systems and 
teachers, — these are only moral duties, — these may 
be performed ivithoat religion. But admit that these 
duties toward our fellow-men and toward ourselves 
may be measurably discharged without religion, the 
converse of the proposition is the one before us, Can 
there be a Christian religion, can there be a relig- 
ious character, without the performance of these du- 



RELIGION AND MORALITY. 



39 



ties ? This definition of St. James, says an exclu- 
sive critic, is correct so far, that it implies religion, 
— it is a part of religion, but not the whole. There 
are essential doctrines not referred to. But is it not 
truly singular that there should be in the Scripture 
any definition of religion, and that a most direct 
and literal definition, and the only one in all Scrip- 
ture, and that definition make no allusion to any 
one of the dogmas which the confessions declare to 
be essential to salvation ? Of the inherent corruption 
and total depravity of human nature, — ecclesiastical 
and unscriptural phraseology, — there is nothing said 
in James's description of pure and undefiled religion. 
Of the infinite merits of Christ, — another church, but 
not Scripture phrase, — St. James says nothing. Of 
faith in the blood of atonement, — another phrase 
of the books, but not of the Bible, — St. James says 
nothing. For none of these, nor any of their kindred 
fundamentals, but simply an active and disinter- 
ested benevolence toward our human brother, and 
the preservation of our own purity, — this is before 
God and the Father pure and undefiled religion. 

The same tendency existed in the time of St. 
James, only in a greater degree, to exalt belief or 
faith, and to depreciate morality or good works ; and 
he pointedly inquires in this same Epistle, " What 
doth it profit, though a man say he hath faith, and 
have not works ? Can faith save him ? If a brother or 
sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of 
you say unto them, Depart in peace, be you warmed 
and filled ; notwithstanding ye give them not those 
things which are needful to the body ; what doth it 
profit ? Show me thy faith without thy works, 



40 



RELIGION AND MORALITY. 



and I will show thee my faith by my works 

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith 
without works is dead also." St. Paul expresses in 
strongest language the same sentiment when he says, 
" Though I have all faith, so that I could remove 
mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." Pe- 
ruse carefully all that sermon by Jesus, on the mount, 
— the only one of his recorded, — study every sen- 
tence of the Lord's prayer, the only form which Jesus 
bequeathed to us, and you will not find even an allu- 
sion to one of the dogmas concerning the divine na- 
ture or human nature of the Messiah, which church 
systems now proclaim as essential to the faith of 
every human being who would be saved from severe 
judgment and ceaseless suffering beyond the grave. 
What then ! were all, Jesus and his disciples, teach- 
ers of morality ? Yes, all ; to every system-framer I 
give an emphatic and affirmative reply, Yes, Jesus 
and his followers were all teachers of morality, you 
being judge. To live a righteous, sober, and godly 
life, was the sum and substance of all their teach- 
ings, the chief end of all their efforts ; and this they 
taught by their words and their deeds, their lives 
and their deaths. So distinctly and emphatically is 
this grand design declared, that every interpretation 
of Scripture incompatible with this must be defeq- 
tive. Every obscure passage, every doubtful word, 
all figurative language, must be construed to har- 
monize with this great and manifest design, the 
purity and elevation, the present and immortal prog- 
ress, of man's spiritual nature. This is Christian 
Morality and this is Christian Religion. In exact 
harmony with this is that explicit saying of Jesus, 



RELIGION AND MORALITY. 



41 



" If any man will do his will, he shall know of the 
doctrine whether it be of God." Reversing the com- 
mon order of ideas, he places action before knowl- 
edge, practice before principle, doing before doctrine. 
This he means, — that there is in existence some 
principle of duty, so general, so universal, that strict 
adherence to that will afford to any man a safe and 
conclusive practical test of all abstract truth, all ab- 
struse speculative doctrine. Now what principle of 
action is there so natural, so rational, that may be 
so generally, so invariably recognized, as this by 
which St. James defines " pure and undefiled relig- 
ion before God, even the Father," — namely, to dis- 
charge the duties of benevolence to our fellow-men, 
and to resist every temptation to disobey our own 
enlightened moral sense ? Jesus affords the corre- 
sponding rule in his own language, which furnishes 
the same practical test of the value of doctrine, and 
is recognized as the Golden Rule, — " As ye would 
that others should do unto you, do ye even so unto 
them." Every doctrine, every interpretation of rev- 
elation, at variance with the practice of this un- 
equivocal rule, it is safe to reject, as unsound and 
untrue. 

St. John, the friend of Jesus, the beloved disciple, 
expresses the same practical identity of virtue and 
piety, religion and morality, in terms so forcible as 
to startle us by their positiveness and abruptness : 
" If any man say I love God, and hateth his brother, 
he is a liar ; for he that loveth not his brother, whom 
he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath 
not seen." In other words, how can we discharge 
our duty to God, but by the discharge of our duty 
4* 



42 



RELIGION AND MORALITY. 



to man ? How can there be religion without mo- 
rality ? How can we love God but by loving God's 
creature, man ? How can we cherish, how can we 
even know, the sentiment of love, but through par- 
ents and friends, whom we have seen, and towards 
whom our affections first open and expand, and 
thence by gratitude extend to God, whom we have 
not seen, but who is the author of these precious 
gifts ? By God's own appointment, the law of our 
spiritual nature, our love is first awakened and 
elicited by man, and passes through man to God, 
through the seen to the unseen, through the visible 
creature to the invisible Creator, through the mortal 
child to the Immortal Father. How simple and 
how sublime, how comprehensive and comprehen- 
sible, the principles, the doctrines, of Jesus and his 
Apostles, compared with the unintelligible and un- 
satisfactory statements of the systems, articles, and 
confessions of ecclesiastical councils ! How different 
this Scriptural description of pure religion and unde- 
nted, from those alleged essential doctrines concerning 
church authority and church forms, — theories of the 
divine nature, and theories of human nature, — theo- 
ries of the nature of Jesus, and theories of the death 
of Jesus, — certain professions of belief and certain 
modes of baptism ! How these dwindle into insig- 
nificance before the simple, sublime, heavenly, and 
universal element and principle of love, — love of the 
human, and love of the divine, — at once the principle 
and proof the fountain and the stream, the begin- 
ning and the end, — without which all faith is vain, 
by which every man may know his character, may 
test his religion, may prove his doctrine ! 



RELIGION AND MORALITY. 



43 



There is no more deplorable characteristic of much 
of the preaching of Christendom than this which en- 
tirely separates religion from morality. It has been, 
and still is, a fruitful source of particular evils to in- 
dividuals and churches, as well as general evil to the 
cause of Christianity. 

In the long catalogue of Sabbath complainings, 
none is more prominent than that referring to the 
absence of a consistent, virtuous life on the part of 
those who, in the common phrase, " profess religion." 
What is it at which the incredulous and scoffing so 
scornfully point, as their objection to Christianity, 
their objection to Religion ? Is it not the want of 
pure principle and upright action during the six-day 
business life of those who are most patient, punctil- 
ious, and devout on Sundays? And yet what can 
religious teachers expect, but that hearers will be 
true to their Sabbath instructions, by which they are 
informed that a very religious man may be very far 
from being a moral man, by which they learn that a 
strict morality is not the invariable attendant and 
only testimony of true piety, — that indeed a " man's 
righteousness" a man's good works, are rather dan- 
gerous, and to be deprecated, as tending to lead him 
to attach importance to them ? So long as religious 
teachers continue to reproach men for valuing per- 
sonal righteousness, and apply to good works, to 
virtuous acts, to daily morality, epithets so gross and 
offensive as " filthy rags," " worthless or worse than 
worthless," they will continue to complain of the 
inconsistencies of their people, who profess religion 
and practise religion as they are taught, but who do 
not afford to society the only evidence of religion 



44 



RELIGION AND MORALITY. 



which society will accept ; that is, a pure morality, a 
daily life of progressive virtue. 

Men whom churches call pious or religious may 
be satisfied with certain feelings and Sabbath exer- 
cises as the fruits of piety, but society will know ■ 
nothing of such fruits, and reasonable, intelligent, 
virtuous men, who make no professions of remarka- 
ble experiences, can never be brought to credit the 
soundness of any religion which does not prove it- 
self by unquestionable morality. " Men do not 
gather grapes from thorns, nor figs from thistles," 
Jesus teaches; and all men acknowledge the just- 
ness of the rule, " By their fruits ye shall know 
them." Professed experiences of grace will never 
be accepted as substitutes for acts of goodness, by 
the thoughtful, who judge of Christians from their 
conduct. Men of irreproachable virtue, who will not 
subscribe confessions, and who are often styled, re- 
proachfully, " men of the world," will never admit 
the piety which can only declare itself by a mysti- 
cal faith, instead of positive good works; visitations 
of grace, instead of an excellent moral character; 
waters of baptism administered in the church, in- 
stead of honest dealings in the field, the storehouse, 
and the street ; acknowledgments of the truth of the 
Bible, instead of constant regard for truth in men's 
own words ; tears streaming from men's eyes at the 
sufferings pictured on Calvary, instead of streams of 
human kindness flowing constantly from charitable 
hearts. 

Missionaries to foreign lands will still encounter 
great obstacles, and meet with small success, so long 
as the actions of those who bear the name of Chris- 



RELIGION AND MORALITY. 



45 



tian preach louder than their words. The Heathen, 
Mohammedan, or Hebrew sees the beam in the 
Christian's eye, as easily as he perceives the mote 
that is in his own eye. They will not plant the Chris- 
tian's tree in their garden till they find it productive 
of better fruit than their own tree. You cannot 
allure the Heathen to Christianity by promise of a 
far future heaven, — for his own religion offers him 
the joys of a heaven as inviting to his eye as any 
that the Christian can describe. You cannot intim- 
idate him by terrors of a far future hell, so long as 
he sees by their conduct that the dread of that hell 
produces so little good effect upon Christians them- 
selves. How truly we may mourn, and how earnest- 
ly strive to remedy, the sad perversion of Christian 
truth ! The very mission of Jesus, the very design 
and proper tendency of Christianity, in contradistinc- 
tion from all systems and superstitions, is to identify 
pure morality with true religion, — to place duty to 
man on the same platform with duty to God. Chris- 
tianity teaches us not to crucify nature and despise 
the world, but to develop nature and use the world ; 
not to honor God by dishonoring his works, but to 
employ his works as agents to his honor ; not to en- 
hance the splendor of the divine by despising the 
weakness of the human, but to elevate the human 
towards the divine ; not to worship the Almighty 
with a servile fear, but to draw man the subject 
nearer to God the Sovereign, to bring man the child 
into a closer intimacy with God the Father, — " God 
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself" ; 
not merely to escape the malignity of the Devil in a 
distant world, but first to exclude by righteousness 



46 



RELIGION AND MORALITY. 



the accusing devil of guilt, which daily seeks a har- 
bor in our own bosoms ; not to be saved only from 
the flames and torments of hell in the unseen division 
of human life, but to be saved first from the hell of 
fear and suffering which sin and outraged con- 
science always kindle in a guilty heart ; not to win a 
dreamy rest in sensuous happiness in the yet unseen 
heaven, but by a patient, generous, and hopeful activ- 
ity to keep our spirits continually in a heaven of 
purity and peace, and joy and hope, like an exhaust- 
less fountain, upward springing towards an everlast- 
ing life. For so much and so far as it will exist, the 
hell of that life will grow out of the hell which begins 
in this life, and the heaven of this life will grow up 
into the heaven of that now unseen part of the eternal 
life which is the inalienable heritage of every soul. 



DISCOURSE IV. 



SPIRITS IX THE CHURCH. 

GOD HATH NOT GIVEN US THE SPERM OF FEAR. BUT OF 
POYTEE. AND OF LOVE. AND OF A SOUND MIND. — 2 Tim- 
othy i. 7. 

These lucid and significant words of Paul may 
justly be employed, not only by the Liberal Christians 
of the times, as descriptive of their own condition, 
but also as describing a characteristic of this coun- 
try and this generation. It is true that much of the 
religion existing around us is founded on the senti- 
ment of fear. It is not gratitude, not reverence, not 
the feeling of dependence expressing itself in wor- 
ship. It is apprehension, or dread of some supposed 
or possible evil, which is to be deprecated, and if 
possible averted. 

This remark is not intended as an assertion that 
most of the external observances of religion are 
made under the immediate influence of fear. This 
would imply more direct reflection than is usually 
given to each personal act. But on a close analysis 
it will be ascertained, that the original motive of 



48 



SPIRITS IN THE CHURCH. 



many, if not most persons, in acts which are called 
religious, is an apprehension of some ultimate per- 
sonal evil to themselves. Yet it is certain that, 
among nominal Christians generally, the spirit of 
fear is not predominant, whether as to the future of 
what is called time, or the future of what is called 
eternity. Follow men out into their various voca- 
tions, into the business of all professions, into the 
daily and constant occurrences of domestic life, and 
ascertain if possible how much the element of fear 
enters into their immediate motives or feelings, 
prompting them to action or restraining them from 
action, impelling them to one course or restraining 
them from another course. You will probably find 
that fear is the very lowest in the scale of consider- 
ations by which they are influenced. Fear neither 
of God, of Satan, of hell, of suffering, or punish- 
ment of any kind, temporal or eternal, is found to be 
a powerful, ever-present motive, impelling to or de- 
terring men from action. In the study of the stu- 
dent, in the office of the lawyer, in the counting-room 
or warehouse of the merchant, in the workshop of 
the artisan, in the store, in the market, or on the 
street, where is the man who pauses over every act, 
and every transaction, and asks himself, What 
evil may this possibly bring upon me, in a future 
existence after death ? Where is the man who at 
every act pauses and puts the question to himself, 
What evil may this possibly bring upon me twenty, 
ten, or five years after this, here in the present life ? 
Can you find one such man ? It will scarcely be 
deemed presumptuous to allege, that among the 
three-and-twenty millions of this nation there is no 



SPIRITS IN THE CHURCH. 



49 



such man. No, — the spirit of fear, whether as to 
temporal or eternal things, is not the spirit of our 
people. It is not the characteristic of our age. In 
this respect some old things have passed away, even 
if all things have not become new. It is more than 
probable, that, with a respectable portion of the relig- 
ious world, the spirit of fear is predominant during 
the worship hours of the first day of every week. But 
among those who fear the most, even one day in 
seven, the pulpit presents Christianity as a scheme 
of redemption, which serves somewhat as an anodyne 
to soothe their spirits, and gently and speedily to 
dissipate their momentary apprehensions. Then 
every Monday morning, most, if not all, enter upon 
the routine of ordinary business, with hearts almost 
free from every shadow of fear which annoyed them 
for an hour on the previous day. Why is this 
so ? Perhaps it is because of the increase and 
prevalence of a spirit of power, of love, and of a 
sound mind. 

In the course of human progress, man has ac- 
quired a larger knowledge of his own power, and 
has a deeper confidence in his own capacities. The 
discoveries in science by the few have developed the 
faculties of the many, and man now finds revealed 
what was always true, though unperceived, — the 
great law of adaptation in the universe, and the 
natural tendency of all things to good. Men now 
perceive, with more or less distinctness, that all which 
is called evil, is not inherent in things, — is not the 
natural order of things, but is the result of restrain- 
ing, perverting, or in some manner departing from 
the divine order of nature. Even the proudest 
5 



50 



SPIRITS IN THE CHURCH. 



city of Greece in her most palmy days, with all her art, 
philosophy, and elegant culture, referred everything 
to gods, and found gods for everything. When 
overtaken by calamities, in the spirit of fear they 
erected an altar to the " Unknown GodP They 
seemed to regard each particular evil as the visita- 
tion of some one of many conflicting deities ; and 
lest the author of some special visitation should not 
be numbered in their catalogue of known divini- 
ties, the propitiatory altar to the unknown deity was 
supposed to meet the exigency, and avert the divine 
displeasure. God is not now believed in as a local, 
national God, arbitrarily blessing one man or one 
race, and arbitrarily cursing another man or another 
race. The Deity is now worshipped as the sustain- 
ing power and life of the universe, leaving man free 
to bring joy or sorrow to himself by improvement 
or misimprovement of his powers, yet in boundless 
wisdom directing all things toward some grander 
destiny than any now within our actual comprehen- 
sion. Human knowledge is both more profound and 
comprehensive now. Probably better than ever be- 
fore are perceived the true relations of things, ani- 
mate and inanimate, spiritual and material. The 
practical application of this knowledge to human 
wants and comforts indicates clearly the control 
which man, or mind, may have over the material or 
visible elements of nature. Man understands better 
his just pre-eminence in the order of things, and the 
spirit of love supersedes the spirit of fear, the spirit 
of power supplants the spirit of superstitious servil- 
ity. This spirit of power and spirit of Jove are now 
the spirits in the Church. 



SPIRITS IN THE CHURCH. 



51 



Why then, do you inquire, does so much of the 
external worship or religion of the times find its 
support in the sentiment of fear ? This Sunday 
fear is only the homage rendered to the images set 
up by the instruction of early years, before we enter 
into the commotion of life around us now, which 
inculcates and enforces self-reliance, and inspires 
with the spirit of power. The Church, with its mix- 
ture of error and of truth, is associated with the 
purest period of most men's being, — the period when 
with unquestioning trust they receive the tenets of 
a mother's faith, confirmed by first instructions from 
the revered lips of teachers and of preachers. The 
impressions thus made upon the plastic mind are 
never easily effaced. But the man has developed, 
while the Church has ceased development. The 
man makes progress, while the Church regards prog- 
ress in theology as dangerous, if not impossible. 
The venerable institution still remains, and by force 
of habit the footsteps of the early worshipper are 
directed towards the altar venerated in his youth. 
Though it' has lost its power to instruct him, (I 
speak of the Church in its popular or sectarian sense,) 
its services still somewhat soothe and solace, while 
they touch tenderly some memory of his earliest, 
his home affections. 

The Protestant churches of this day make a sim- 
ilar mistake to that under which Rome has labored 
for fourteen hundred years; namely, the presump- 
tion, that all truth has been discovered ; that religion 
is and has been fully understood in all its relations, 
and that the Church, as its organ, is infallible. 
More than two centuries ago, when at Leyden some 



52 SPIRITS IN THE CHURCH. 

of our forefathers were about to embark and brave 
the perils of the sea, that in this Western wilder- 
ness they might find " freedom to worship God," 
John Robinson, who was their devout and sagacious 
pastor, gave them, as part of his farewell address, 
this solemn charge. Said he: "I charge you before 
God, that if God reveal anything to you by any 
other instrument of his, be as ready to receive it as 
ever you were to receive any truth by my ministry, 
for I am verily persuaded God hath more truth yet 
to break forth from his holy word. For my part, I 
cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the Re- 
formed churches, which are come to a period in relig- 
ion, and will go at present no farther than the instru- 
ments of their reformation. The Lutherans cannot 
be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw, — what- 
ever part of his will God revealed to Calvin, they 
will die rather than embrace it; and the Calvinists, 
you see r stick fast by that great man of God, who 
yet saw not all things. This is a misery much to 
be lamented, for though they were burning and shin- 
ing lights in their times, yet they penetrated not 
the whole counsel of God, but, were they now living, 
would be as willing to embrace further light as that 
which they at first received. I beseech you remem- 
ber that it is an article of your church covenant, 
that you be ready to receive whatever truth shall 
be made known to you from the written word of 
God." 

But this sensible charge of a far-seeing mind has 
long since been forgotten by many of the descend- 
ants of those who heard it. They have fallen into 
the error of the early Calvinists and Lutherans, who, 



SPIRITS IN THE CHURCH. 



53 



even in the lifetime of their leaders, seriously quar- 
relled ; and what Robinson said of them may be 
truly said of the existing churches of Protestantism, 
— they have come to a period in religion, and will 
go no farther than the limits prescribed by confes- 
sions made at least three centuries since. 

No profound reflection is needed to account for 
the comparatively small influence which the church- 
es now exert upon the principles and conduct of the 
great mass of men, both within them and without. 
The whole secret is, the churches and the times are 
not in harmony. The churches are standing still, 
while the world around them is in motion. The 
world of mind, matter, reascn, nature, is agitated, — 
has disclosed and is disclosing God and man, the 
life within and the life without, in new relations and 
new forms. The church is unpractical and unpro- 
gressive, the times are testing all things by the stand- 
ard of utility, and compelling all things to advance 
with them, or to go back and disappear entirely. 
The old body which has been inhabited by the spirit 
of fear, though it still remains, is outwardly respect- 
ed and endured, — not even from remembrance of its 
past services, but only because of its age and its 
infirmities. All observing and reflecting minds per- 
ceive, that if a church would perpetuate itself, if 
there be a church at all, it must be a vigorous and 
healthful body, inhabited by a spirit of power, of 
love, and a sound progressive mind. When a church 
decays and dies, its cold remains, like other dead 
bodies, should be decently interred, and not kept to 
endanger the health and progress of the living. If 
the burial cost some tears, let them be shed, and let 
5* 



54 



SPIRITS IN THE CHURCH. 



the mourners turn again with energy to the serious 
work of life. 

Of those who from force of habit most regularly at- 
tend the Sunday ministrations, how many will frankly 
tell you, that Sunday is the saddest and most unprof- 
itable day of the seven ! After the driving business 
and harassing cares of the week, they seek, and they 
all need, some spiritual ministrations. But they 
come away from the services of the church, with as- 
pirations suppressed, rather than increased; with ar- 
dor dampened, rather than hope kindled ; with per- 
plexities doubled, rather than burdens lightened ; with 
minds confused, rather than doubts dissipated. Not 
a bright ray has been thrown upon the dark coloring 
of life, and, wearied with the dulness of the time, they 
rejoice at the approach of Monday morning, to plunge 
again into the whirl of their pursuits, and forget the 
temporary shadows which the gloomy picturings of 
the pulpit had thrown around them. 

The fall and curse of the whole unborn world of 
man, — original sin, — the plan of salvation by vica- 
rious atonement, — the gracious gift of faith through 
which some are to be profited by that atonement, — 
the unutterable miseries of the eternally lost, — four 
fifths of human kind in Pagan darkness, perishing 
everlastingly for lack of knowledge, — these are the 
same old strings which have been struck ever since 
the first dissensions of Lutherans and Calvinists, 
and they produce as dismal and discordant music 
to-day, as they did when John Robinson bewailed 
the condition of the Reformed churches. 

There is as much need of reform and revival now, 
as when Luther blew that " blast from the iron 



SPIRITS IN THE CHURCH. 



55 



trumpet of his mother tongue, which shook Europe, 
from Rome to the Orkneys." Consider the dis- 
putes which now convulse the churches. — whether 
one minister or another is in the true succession. — 
whether the Apostolic line came down through the 
Church of Rome, or down by another way outside 
of the Papal realm.- — whether baptism is regenera- 
tion, or only typical of regeneration. — whether a 
handful of water in the font is sufficient, or whether 
immersion is essential. — whether certain versions 
of the Psalms, or certain hymns, should be sung in 
public worship. Such as these are the topics of 
discussion in this practical, inquiring, thinking nine- 
teenth century. — varied with now and then a groan 
or a tear over the millions of - perishing souls who 
have no interest in the blood of Christ/'' Without 
any protest, and as certainly with but little profit, 
hundreds sit each Sunday and listen to these insipid 
and interminable controversies. With like indiffer- 
ence, they listen to denunciations, threatenings, and 
lamentations over a graceless. God-forsaken, mam- 
mon-loving world, not included in the pale of the 
divinely constituted Church, which pulpit authori- 
ties declare to be the sole agent of eternal salvation. 

As a people, we may truly say of ourselves, as 
did St. Paul of the early Christians who were re- 
deemed from servile attachment to Hebrew, Greek, 
and Roman ritualism. •■ God has given us. not the 
spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound 
mind.'* With ail the materialism of the times, with 
all the money-loving characteristics of the acting 
generation, there has never before been exhibited so 
much of the power of a spirit of love. 



56 



SPIRITS IN THE CHURCH. 



The thousands who on Sunday listen with appar- 
ent patience to the clergy who deliberately divide 
them off into saints and sinners, friends and enemies 
of God, children of grace and children of wrath, — 
these same thousands, when they pass without the 
portals of the church, no longer recognize the author- 
ity of their pulpit judges. They grasp each others' 
hands as cordially, transact business with each other 
as freely, co-operate in benevolence as frankly, inter- 
change the courtesies of domestic life as readily y and 
devise and execute plans for the general prosperity 
with as much harmony and mutual enjoyment, as if 
they all repeated the same Shibboleth, — as if all 
were alike saints and children of grace, — as if all 
were alike the true sheep of the true Shepherd, des- 
tined to places on the right hand of the Judge. The 
actual visible advancement which has been made in 
developing mind and matter, restraining influences 
which degrade, and increasing influences which ele- 
vate, has awakened in the world's heart a conscious- 
ness of power. It has made man to feel that he is 
the rational creature and moral agent of God, and 
not a corrupt and helpless thing, tossed to and fro 
between an angry Deity and an angry Devil, as one 
or the other may chance to gain the mastery in a 
contest, continued ever since Satan, as Milton de- 
scribes, " raised impious war in heaven," and was 

" Hurled headlong, flaming from the ethereal sky. 
With hideous ruin and combustion, down 
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell 
In adamantine chains and penal fire." 

The immeasurable influence of a free press, famil- 
iarizing all with the history and condition of the 



SPIRITS IN THE CHURCH. 



57 



races and nations of the earth, discovers to all ob- 
servers, that whether one is a saint or a sinner, a 
child of the church or a child of the world, depends 
not so much upon special providences, supernatural 
visitations, and gifts of grace, as upon the social 
agencies which surround and seize upon the young 
mind and body, training them up in the way they 
should go, or in the way they should not. 

In catechisms, books, sermons, and Sunday pray- 
ers, the dogmas of original sin and total depravity 
of nature may remain — and precious as they are 
to those who retain them, they are only kept there 
like the gold, silver, gems, and jewels which sur- 
round the relics and bones of departed saints in the 
convents and cathedrals of the Church of Rome — 
only to be looked at, and believed in, but not to go 
forth with men, in the spirit of power, to assist and 
bless them in the practical affairs of life. The fact 
of the existence of these doctrines, even in the old 
creeds and the common sermons, is not wholly 
harmless. They greatly retard, but they cannot 
stop, the wheels of progress. The actual experience 
of this energetic day, the social improvements and 
common interests of the enlightened world, have 
virtually destroyed the power and deadened the spirit 
of these fundamental doctrines, framed by speculat- 
ing and contending human councils, in an almost 
semi-barbarous a^e. 

In alleging that man is now, more than ever be- 
fore, conscious of his real power, — that, as a moral 
agent, man controls his own destiny, — I do not in- 
tend to allege that man finds himself omnipotent. 
Great as is his power, the resistless forces of destruc- 



58 



SPIRITS IN THE CHURCH. 



tive elements, which as yet he has been unable to sub- 
due, remind him of the limits of his present attain- 
ments, of his dependence upon a power above him- 
self, while at the same time it stimulates him to 
more ceaseless activity in extending the boundaries 
of his knowledge, in enlarging and confirming his 
dominion over nature. Man lives and walks amid 
innumerable mysteries, but at every step some- 
thing before hidden is revealed to his observing eye, 
encouraging his efforts and animating his hopes. 
The contest between love and hatred, truth and 
error, is not yet ended. With all the instrumental- 
ities of benevolence, all the monuments of philan- 
thropy, and all the combined and individual efforts 
for the redemption of the world from sin and wrong, 
there is still much ignorance, selfishness, and sad 
indifference to human happiness and human dig- 
nity, both in the Church and without the Church. 
Through many a stout struggle, many a hard-fought 
contest, truth has yet to pass, before she achieves a 
final triumph. Long indulged and pampered super- 
stition will contend as long as her organic life con- 
tinues, for the "bad eminence" to which she has 
been raised by spiritual ambition. But the throne of 
the spirit of fear, has been gained by crafty usurpa- 
tion, and craft must be conquered, for all injustice is 
doomed and must perish. 

The relinquishment of any effort for enlargement 
of human intellect, the elevation of human hopes, 
and achievement of spiritual freedom, — no matter 
from what particular or local causes, — cools the en- 
thusiasm, and shakes the otherwise growing confi- 
dence of some in the progress of goodness, if not their 



SPIRITS IN THE CHURCH. 



59 



faith in divine beneficence itself. The spirit of fear 
regains temporary ascendency over the spirit of love, 
of power, and of a sound mind. Cracked-voiced big- 
otry croaks its exultations, and, pointing back to its 
inauspicious predictions, sets up its claims as a true 
prophet divinely inspired. But the spirit of love has 
a vital energy which can never be extinguished. The 
seeds which it sows, though chilled by the frosts and 
buried by the snows of ages, are sure one day to be 
reached by some animating heat, and germinate and 
spring forth in beauty to the light. The spirit of fear 
can never prosper nor maintain its foothold, but by 
calling to its aid a troop of spirits dismal as itself, like 
avarice, envy, selfishness, and revenge. But the,, spirit 
of love is in itself immortal, possessing an inherent 
power which cannot be even temporarily subdued, 
but by a malignant combination of hostile forces. 
To the spirit of fear the spirit of love never surren- 
ders in a fair fight. The spirit of fear, though nur- 
tured in creeds for ages, and exhibited from pulpits 
at this day, is mortal in its nature, for it is born of 
error, — it is born of dust, and unto dust it must re- 
turn. But the spirit of love is immortal and divine. 
It is the spirit of divinity itself, — for nature re- 
sponds to the written word, in declaring that " God 
is Love." 

Let no one, therefore, falter for an instant in his 
faith, but observe the tendencies of the time, the 
unfolding sympathies between man and man, the 
melting down of every icy barrier before the warm 
breath of human brotherhood, and he cannot fail to 
•see that ignorance, superstition, and ecclesiastical 
authority are declining, withering, fading away, be- 



60 



SPIRITS IN THE CHURCH. 



fore the spirit of power which has been roused into 
consciousness in millions of bosoms of this enlight- 
ened generation. 

The activity of the age, the absorbing interests of 
business, may leave multitudes but little time, and as 
little inclination, to investigate the respective claims 
of doctrines, rites, and churches. Many, therefore, 
may still remain in a degree of servitude to the spirit 
of fear, through silent assent to the old principle of 
exclusiveness, of which the preacher is now the only 
recognized embodiment. For out of the pulpit it 
has but few representatives, and no champions. 
The inconsistency between the Sunday worship of 
such ajid their week-day practice, they themselves 
may fail to detect. Nevertheless, that inconsistency 
continues and increases, till one day they will find 
that they have been insensibly and gradually un- 
clasping their spiritual fetters, and now stand clearly 
out in the fulness of a sound mind, armed with 
moral power, under the inspiration of a spirit of love. 
The apparently retrogressive movements in some 
portions both of Church and State in Christendom, 
as in England and France, and to some extent in 
our own country, afford no argument against human 
progress. These are but scattered and floating 
clouds, obscuring the brilliance of the sun. The sun 
of popular intelligence is already too high in the heav- 
ens for its penetrating rays to be easily averted, or 
its animating fervor to be easily cooled. 

The mind of the acting and rising generation is 
in motion, and it is not motion backward, nor mo- 
tion in a circle, but it is motion onward. As Liberal 
Christians, it remains for us who are unrestrained by 



SPIRITS IN THE CHURCH. 



61 



ecclesiastical dictation, who are under no half-bond- 
age to early associations of external religion, who 
are unalarmed by the spiritural terrors of early life, 
to whom God has given, not the spirit of fear, but 
the spirit of power and of love, — it remains for us, 
without the smallest measure of self-complacency, 
with reasonable and grateful humility, to remember 
that our responsibilities are commensurate w T ith our 
advantages. Collectively, we may not be able to 
accomplish all which the wants of the times appear 
to demand. Yet each one in his place and at all 
times can fearlessly and manfully speak the truth in 
love. By his daily actions, if not by his words, each 
one may bear testimony to the reality and power of 
an inward faith, which not only as to an existence 
beyond death, but as to the triumph of holiness, lib- 
erty, and love, among men on the earth, " is the sub- 
stance of things hoped for, the evidence of things 
not seen." 

The spirit of power and spirit of love which mark 
the energy of the age, represent and enforce the 
spirit of unity which is the true Unitarianism ; — that 
which unites men in heart and action, despite all 
theoretic or speculative differences ; — that which re- 
gards all names, rites, forms, and churches as noth- 
ing in themselves, but as symbolic expressions, visi- 
ble organs, or modes of declaration, all valuable 
more or less, as means, as helps, but not as ends, — 
the ends being integrity of life, a harmonious, intel- 
ligent, and spiritual growth, to which all expressions, 
forms, and words must be subservient, — and useful 
only in proportion as they subserve these ends. Not 
even forms and ceremonies which subserve these ends 
6 



62 



SPIRITS IN THE CHURCH. 



should be despised. We should address the imagi- 
nation as well as the understanding, and cultivate 
taste as well as reason. We must collect and com- 
bine the dispersed elements of truth, and consolidate 
them into a substantial faith. Such appears to be 
the tendency of the times. Such is the felicitous 
consummation of an approaching period in the 
world. Whatsoever occasion may appear at times 
for discouragement to persons and personal exer- 
tions, there is abundant ground for cheerful and 
deepening trust in general progress, peaceful unity, 
and the reign of fraternal love. Some timid souls, 
wanting confidence in the power of faith to win its 
way, feeling a new and stronger pulse throbbing in 
the Church, are alarmed lest it should prove an un- 
healthy symptom. They seem to fear some feverish 
phase to which death itself may follow. Instead of 
faith, this shows a sad distrust of the religion they 
profess, — a want of confidence in God himself. 
Some spirits in the Church are busy enough to re- 
pair the breaches in the old walls by which the flocks 
have been fenced in. But their zeal is unavailing, 
for every moving train of steam-cars shakes down 
as much brick and mortar as the Sunday preaching 
builds. Every flash along ten thousand electric 
wires rejoins and mends the threads of human sym- 
pathy, as rapidly as ten thousand pulpits can con- 
sume and separate them. 

The tree of human brotherhood, which Jesus trans- 
planted from its narrow nursery in Palestine into 
the unfenced garden of the world, — though by 
mistaken husbandmen it has been tied down and 
dwarfed, and the dew and sunshine shut out by ec- 



SPIRITS IN THE CHURCH. 



63 



clesiastic coverings, — has still been growing, and 
has now reached a growth so stately, that it cannot 
be inclosed in the hot-house of a narrow church. Its 
roots have deepened, and its trunk has strengthened, 
and its boughs expanded, till it rejoices in the light 
and heat and showers of heaven itself; sweet birds 
are singing in its foliage, and men of every name 
are gathering in its grateful shade, and beginning to 
enjoy its delicious, unfailing, and immortal fruits. 



DISCOURSE V. 



THE FIRST SIN. — ADAM AND HIS POSTERITY. — THE 
DOCTRINE OE THE COVENANT WITH ADAM. 

WHY EVEN OF YOURSELVES JUDGE YE NOT WHAT IS 

eight ? — Luke xii. 57. 

. Probably no one concise embodiment of doc- 
trines is so well known, or read and remembered 
by so large a number of both children and men, 
as the Westminster Shorter Catechism. The 16th 
question in that Catechism is, " Did all mankind 
fall in Adam's first transgression ? " The answer is, 
" The covenant being made with Adam, not only 
for himself but for his posterity, all mankind de- 
scending from him by ordinary generation sinned 
in him, and fell with him in his first transgression." 

" The covenant," — these words suggest the first 
inquiry. What evidence is there of any covenant 
having been made with Adam ? A covenant is an 
agreement, a contract, or bargain, between two par- 
ties, who mutually pledge themselves to certain 
conditions. Now what does the Genesis account 
represent as having passed between Adam and his 



THE FIRST SIN. 65 

maker ? In chap. ii. ver. 15, it is said : " The Lord 
God took the man, and put him into the garden of 
Eden, to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God 
commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the 
garden thou mayest freely eat ; but of the tree of 
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat 
of it; for in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt 
surely die." This is the only language in this whole 
account which can be made even a pretext for 
this theory of a covenant. And every word in it is 
at variance with every idea of a covenant. Instead 
of an agreement between two parties, there is an 
imperative command given in the most authoritative 
manner by one party, without even a promise of obe- 
dience by the other party. For anything the account 
gives us to the contrary, Adam may, at the very 
moment of hearing this command, have resolved to 
exercise his own choice as to whether he would 
obey or disobey. There is not a single instance, in 
the whole Old or New Testament, where the term 
covenant is used with reference to anything that oc- 
curred at the creation, or this account of the crea- 
tion or formation of man. And yet, as if expressly to 
contradict this account and all that is said in Scrip- 
ture on the subject, the 12th question of the West- 
minster Catechism is, " What special act of prov- 
idence did God exercise toward man in the estate 
wherein he was created ? " The answer is, " When 
God had created man, he entered into a covenant of 
life with him, upon conditions of perfect obedience; 
forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge of 
good and evil upon the pain of death." But there is 
not a syllable of any such covenant, on any such 
6* 



66 



THE FIRST SIN. 



condition, in the Bible ; only a positive command on 
the part of God, implying capacity to obey or dis- 
obey on the part of man. 

" The covenant being made not only for himself, 
but for his posterity," says the Catechism. This 
suggests the next inquiry. "What is said about Ad- 
am's posterity in the Genesis account? You have 
seen that, in the passage we have read, there is no 
allusion whatever to posterity. " Thou shalt not 
eat," — " in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt 
surely die," — is the emphatic language, without al- 
lusion to any other being than this man himself, — 
not even to his wife; and according to the account 
it was after this — how many years after is not 
stated — that the woman was formed from part of 
this man's body. 

But perhaps you may suppose them to have been 
directly referred to in what is called the curse, after 
Adam had sinned. All that is represented to have 
passed between God and Adam on that occasion is 
stated in the next chapter in these words : " Unto 
Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto 
the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of 
which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat 
of it, — cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow 
shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life ; thorns 
also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and 
thou shalt eat the herb of the field ; in the sweat of 
thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto 
the ground ; for out of it wast thou taken ; for dust 
thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." This is 
all that God is represented as having declared to 
Adam on that occasion, and you perceive that there 



THE FIRST SIN. 



67 



is not the remotest allusion to posterity ; and as to 
anything that is said to have occurred between God 
and Adam, the whole idea of posterity, good or 
bad, is a gratuitous assumption. To the woman 
God is represented as declaring that she should 
become the mother of children, without a word 
descriptive of the nature or character of the children, 
whether good or bad, sinful or sinless. So obvious is 
the utter groundlessness of this theory, as far as 
Scripture is concerned. 

But still further says the Catechism, " All man- 
kind sinned in him, and fell with him in his first 
transgression." That is, all mankind sinned and 
fell before a single human being had been born. 
Deplorable condition of us all ! Every one of us 
was guilty of sin, six thousand years ago. If we 
were capable of guilt and sin so many centuries be- 
fore we had existence, how melancholy are our 
prospects now! infirm mortals, living here amidst 
so many wrongs, temptations, and evil influences. 
But not to insist upon Scriptural authority for this 
doctrine, suppose a covenant had been made (ac- 
cording to the creed) between God and Adam, is 
it supposable for an instant that God would im- 
pose such conditions? would make the guilt or 
innocence, the ceaseless happiness or eternal sin 
and pain and misery, of all the countless millions of 
human beings that have lived, and do live, and may 
yet live, depend on one act of one man, who is 
said to have been so ignorant as not to know the 
difference between good or evil, — one act of one 
man, who was so weak as to be unable to resist what 
was, as far as we know, the very first temptation 



68 



THE FIRST SIN. 



that was offered to him ? Is it at all conceivable, 
that heaven with all imaginable bliss, or hell with all 
possible horrors, — peace, joy, and felicities eternal, 
or wrath, agony, fire, and burnings everlasting, — to 
Noah, Abraham, and Moses, John, Peter, and Paul, 
and every human being besides, were suspended on 
that one act of that one weak man ? This theory 
reverses the whole order of nature and justice. If 
there be any transfer of guilt at all, Adam should be 
held responsible for every sin that we commit, and 
the guilt of all of us, past, present, and to come, 
should be heaped upon his devoted head, to weigh 
down his dark, suffering soul through an eternity 
of eternities. This could be only sufficient punish- 
ment for presuming to enter into such a covenant, 
and consenting to such conditions ; for of course 
it could be no covenant, if he did not voluntarily 
agree to the terms. If he were forced to stand 
in that position, then it was no covenant, but an 
act of omnipotent tyranny. If the supernal powers 
saw Adam forced into that awful attitude, then 
we could not wonder that, as Milton in his poetic 
frenzy represents, Satan and his friendly hosts should 
rebel against such monstrous oppression, but rather 
we might wonder that a single angel, archangel, 
cherub, or seraph should be content to remain in 
heaven. We should wonder rather that they 
should not all plunge down together with the 
arch-fiend, with him exclaiming : — 

" Here at least 
We shall be free : the Almighty hath not built 
Here for his envy ; will not drive us hence ; 
Here may we reign secure, and in our choice, 
To reign is worth ambition, though in hell. 
Better to reign in hell, than serve in [such a] heaven." 



THE FIRST SIN. 



69 



But stop, says one ; you are forgetting Paul ; he 
says (1 Cor. xv. 22), " As in Adam all die, even so in 
Christ shall all be made alive." Yes, but be less hasty 
in your reading, friend. Paul does not say, " As 
in Adam all sinned, even so in Christ shall all be 
delivered from the effects of sin." There is no allu- 
sion in the passage to Adam's sin, or any other 
person's sin. Still you say, " In Adam all die." 
True, but still you read too rapidly. Paul does not 
say that " in Adam all died," — all did die, — but " as 
in Adam all die " ; he speaks in the present tense. 
Certainly if all men had died in Adam, no one 
would be living now ; and had we all died six thou- 
sand years ago in Adam, it would have relieved us 
all of life's vexations, for then we should never have 
had existence. Besides, you must be careful not to 
bring Paul into conflict with the other Scripture 
writers, who tell us that both Enoch and Elijah 
were translated, or removed from this world with- 
out the agency of death. 

Since the passage does not signify what you sup- 
posed, what does it mean ? you ask. The passage 
is one of many, which, like Jesus himself, have been 
falsely accused, and nailed to the cross of theological 
systems, and made to suffer exceedingly. It is sim- 
ply a sentence used as a rhetorical illustration, in the 
midst of an argument in support of existence after 
what we call death. The preposition in being changed 
to with, which it should be, the passage is clear 
enough. Paul, being a Jew, goes back to the Jewish 
writings for his illustration, and he says, " As with — 
in like manner with — Adam all men now die, even 
so — in like manner — with the Christ shall all be 



made alive." There is no reference to the condition 
of the life, whether good or bad, happy or unhappy. 

But then again do you remind me that Paul says, 
" By one man's disobedience many were made sin- 
ners, so by the obedience of one shall many be 
made righteous." Precisely so; — but by the dis- 
obedience of the one man to whom he refers, Paul 
does not tell us how many were made sinners, he 
only says many. And it is as true to-day as it was 
when Paul wrote it, that the evil influence of one 
man's bad example is not easily limited, and who of 
us has not had fall upon him the poisonous shadow 
of some other one's bad habits ? Those who follow 
the example of that one man, Adam, may rely upon 
their becoming sinners ; and those who imitate that 
other one, Jesus, may by righteous deeds become 
conquerors over sin. But they who ^have never 
heard of Adam, if they become sinners it cannot be 
through his example ; and they who have never 
heard of Jesus, however righteous they -become, 
must be unaided by the light of his example. 

Still you say, God brought destruction on the 
world because he " saw that the wickedness of man 
was great, and every imagination of his heart was 
only evil continually." In reply, I ask, are you to 
interpret this, so as to make Moses contradict his 
emphatic and unqualified declaration (Gen. vi. 9), 
" Noah was a just man and perfect in his genera- 
tions, and Noah walked with God " ? 

David in his shame and grief exclaims concern- 
ing himself, that he was " conceived in sin and 
brought forth in iniquity." But because David 
under a sense of personal guilt and self-abasement 



THE FIRST SIN. 



71 



spoke thus, — David, who had been even till manhood 
one of remarkable purity and excellence, but with 
his accession to power had become so perverted, that 
he had grossly invaded the sacred sanctuary of domes- 
tic virtue, and to his dark passions added the crime 
of murder, till his hands bore " smell of blood that all 
the perfumes of Arabia would not sweeten," — it 
cannot be argued from his exclamations that he 
either asserted or believed that every human being 
"is conceived in sin and born in iniquity." Because 
he thought his own heart to be " deceitful above all 
things and desperately wicked," we are not to con- 
tend, directly against our personal observation and 
experience, that all hearts are, or that David thought 
or intended to allege that all hearts are, naturally 
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. 
If this were true of David's heart, there is no good 
evidence that it has been true of any other human 
heart, either before or since the time of David. "When 
it is said, " There is none that doeth good, no, not one," 
— you cannot understand it so as to contradict the 
established facts of the world's history, — facts which 
show that the most depraved and cruel being that 
ever lived has done some good, — you cannot so in- 
terpret such general exclamations of David, as to 
contradict the distinct declaration of Luke (i. 6), that 
Zacharias and Elizabeth " were both righteous be- 
fore God, walking in all the commandments and 
ordinances of the Lord, blameless." And Zacharias 
and Elizabeth were not Christians either, but Jews. 
They had no Westminster Confession and Cate- 
chism, — they had no Thirty-nine Articles. They had 
never dreamed or heard of total depravity, vicarious 



72 



THE FIRST SIN. 



atonement, or any one of the doctrines or external 
rites now regarded by so many as absolutely essen- 
tial to salvation. Yet " they were both righteous 
before God, walking in all the commandments 
and ordinances of the Lord, blameless." 

The 26th question of the Larger Catechism says, 
" Original sin is conveyed from our first parents 
unto their posterity by natural generation, so as all 
that proceed from them in that way are conceived 
and born in sin." The answer to the next question 
says, " The fall brought upon mankind the loss of 
communion with God, his displeasure and curse ; 
so we are by nature children of wrath, bond-slaves 
of Satan, and justly liable to all punishment in this 
world, and that which is to come." 

As a fair offset to this, read this explicit language 
of the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel (xviii. 20) : " The son 
shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall 
the father bear the iniquity of the son ; the right- 
eousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and 
the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." 

Now you may judge between the inventors of the 
Westminster Catechism, and the prophet Ezekiel. 
With which lies the weight of reason and authority? 

But permit me to remind you, in quoting this 
assertion that " Original sin is conveyed from our 
first parents unto their posterity by natural genera- 
tion f — that we are conceived and born in sin, and 
by nature bond-slaves to Satan," — that it is not 
the language of an effete and obsolete creed. Not 
by any means. It is the creed of the whole Presby- 
terian Church, Old and New School, of the Unit- 
ed States, numbering thousands of the respectable 



THE FIRST SIN. 



73 



men and women of every State in the Union, — a 
creed in which every minister, ruling elder, or 
deacon of the Presbyterian Church is required, be- 
fore ordination, to express his belief. This is 
therefore the doctrine believed and taught by every 
honest minister and elder (and we must suppose 
them all sincere) in the Church. 

But this is not all. I give you another section of 
this same Confession now believed. I do not know 
how many members of that Church — all of whom 
are expected to know and believe, — I do not know 
how many have read this, or how many who have 
read it actually believe it. (Chap. X. sect. 3.) "Elect 
infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved 
by Christ, through the Spirit, who worketh when, 
and where, and how he pleaseth. So also are all 
other elect persons, who are incapable of being 
outwardly called by the ministry of the word." 
Then sect. 4 says : " Others not elected, although 
they may be called by the ministry of the word, and 
may have some common operations of the Spirit, 
yet they never truly come to Christ, and cannot 
therefore be saved." How many intelligent men 
and women really know, from personal examination, 
in what doctrines they are professing their faith, 
when they subscribe to this Confession, by becom- 
ing members of that Church ? 

Here let me recall to your minds a passage from 
the creed of the Andover Theological Seminary, 
a creed which, by the terms of the founder of the 
institution, every Professor in it is required ev- 
ery five years to declare on oath that he believes. 
The passage is this: — "That Adam, the federal 
7 



74 



THE FIRST SIN. 



head and representative of the human race, was 
placed in a state of probation, and that in conse- 
quence of his disobedience all his descendants were 
constituted sinners ; that by nature every man is per- 
sonally depraved, destitute of holiness, unlike and 
opposed to God, and that, previously to the renew- 
ing agency of the Divine Spirit, all his moral actions 
are adverse to the character and glory of God ; that 
being morally incapable of recovering the lost image 
of his Creator which was lost in Adam, every man 
is justly exposed to eternal damnation." This is 
the creed which the Professors are bound by an oath, 
renewed every five years, to believe and teach in a 
Theological Seminary, which probably sends out 
annually over the United States more ministers 
than any other institution, except perhaps Prince- 
ton. 

"We have now examined this common doctrine of 
the covenant with Adam. We have found that 
the account in Genesis, so far from declaring a 
covenant made between Adam and God, says not 
one word about a covenant between God and Adam, 
or between Adam and any other being ; but simply 
gives a command on the part of God, implying in 
Adam the capacity to obey or disobey that com- 
mand. Still further, we find that Adam, so far from 
making a covenant not only for himself, but for his 
posterity, had no posterity till after his sin, and that, 
in all the consequences declared to follow upon 
his sin, no posterity are in any way alluded to. 
And we see, moreover, that the assertion that all 
mankind sinned in him, and fell with him in his 
first transgression, is untrue in fact, absurd in rea- 



THE FIRST SIN. 



75 



son, and impossible in the very nature of things. 
No being could sin and fall, act and incur guilt be- 
fore he is born ; and especially we at this day, six 
thousand years at least from Adam, could not, so 
long before we had existence, act and incur re- 
sponsibility, and sin and become guilty. 

Moreover, we see that, even on the supposition 
that Adam had made a covenant involving all man- 
kind in evil, it is reversing the whole order of nature, 
propriety, and justice, for his descendants to be 
deemed guilty for the evil he entailed upon them ; 
for justice would require that he should bear the 
guilt of all mankind, instead of mankind becoming 
guilty for his sin ; that it would be as unjust and 
cruel in God to punish all mankind for the acts and 
guilt of Adam, as to punish Jesus for the acts and 
guilt of all mankind. And we see that the partic- 
ular passages from Paul's writings, and the other 
parts of Scripture, to prove this doctrine of all men 
becoming sinners by the act or by the covenant of 
one man, cannot be so interpreted without bringing 
those passages into direct contradiction of other 
passages of Scripture, which inform us in the clear- 
est manner that Noah was just before God and per- 
fect in his generation, that Enoch walked with God 
and had this testimony that he pleased God, that 
Zacharias and Elizabeth were righteous before God, 
walking in all the commandments of the Lord 
blameless, and that Nathanael was an Israelite with- 
out guile ; and because such an interpretation ex- 
pressly contradicts the teaching of Jesus concerning 
child ren, " Of such is the kingdom of heaven." 

Moreover, we perceive that the common supposi- 



76 



THE FIRST SIN. 



tion, that labor was a punishment or curse on Adam 
for his sin, is utterly unfounded, positively contradict- 
ed ; for long before, we know not how long before, his 
sin, before the woman was formed, at his creation, it 
is distinctly stated, he was placed in the garden to 
dress it and keep it. So that labor was with Adam, 
as it is with us, one of the ends of his existence, 
the condition of his support and improvement, — 
not a curse, but a blessing. 

And we also see, that natural death was not a 
curse or punishment on Adam for his sin, but, like 
labor, was one of the conditions of his being. In 
declaring that he should eat his bread by the sweat 
of his face, till he should return to the ground from 
which he was taken, it is clearly implied, that he 
would under any circumstances have restored his 
body to the ground. The reason of his bodily death 
is explicitly given, " because dust thou art, and unto 
dust thou shalt return." Moreover, had it been a 
curse, there is not a syllable to warrant the applica- 
tion to any other than Adam himself ; for all that is 
said, is said to Adam alone, without reference to pos- 
terity, and without reference even to Eve, his wife. 
It is unnecessary, or I might furnish you a catalogue 
of names of the most eminent scientific clergymen of 
every denomination, Roman Catholic and Protes- 
tant, who now repudiate the idea of death being a 
curse on animals and men, because of Adam's sin. 
As these same men clearly show, the statements 
of the Bible agree perfectly with the volume of 
nature, in declaring by the strata of matter which 
compose the earth, that millions of animals lived 
and died ages before Adam had existence ; that 



THE FIRST SIN. 



77 



the very dust composing Adam's body had probably 
undergone a thousand transformations, and com- 
posed the body of many an animal during the pre- 
ceding ages; and that natural death, so far from 
being a curse, a king of terrors, is a blessing, a heav- 
enly messenger, disenthralling the soul from its ma- 
terial tenement, from a decaying encumbrance, that 
the freed spirit may rise to a spiritual, ever progress- 
ing, immortal life. 

Now, friends, I again urge you, with all the ear- 
nestness of my soul, to submit these questions to 
the most thorough examination. Prevailing systems 
of doctrines concerning the nature of God, and con- 
cerning human nature, are not founded on the ex- 
plicit language of the Bible ; but on old and barba- 
rous traditions, which have been brought by Chris- 
tians from the several religions to which they origi- 
nally belonged, and from which they were convert- 
ed to Christianity. On this unscriptural theory of 
the fall of all men, the guilt of all men, in and with 
Adam, are based the doctrines of total depravity, 
and of arbitrary election, and of vicarious atone- 
ment. It is the corner-stone of the prevailing the- 
ology. It is the fountain of evil from which have 
been flowing streams of error, for century after cen- 
tury, over the Christian world. 

Certainly, if for a thousand years before the day 
of Luther the whole Christian Church was immersed 
in degrading superstition and vice scarcely supe- 
rior to the darkest darkness of Paganism, — and he 
then brought truth and virtue and righteousness 
into a clearer light, — surely it is time now that we 
all, in the determined spirit of Luther, should bring 



78 



THE FIRST SIN. 



truth into a still clearer light, and decide on the au- 
thority or the groundlessness of this doctrine of the 
origin of sin, — this doctrine of man's guilt before 
he is born, — which is now deemed a fundamental 
doctrine. As much now as in the time of Luther is 
needed an effectual shaking among the dry bones of 
a theology, which has been framed and re-framed, 
by councils of violent and angry church disputants, 
to suit the times in which it was formed, but 
which is unsupported by any rational interpretation 
of the Bible, and refuted by the consciousness of 
every intelligent being. It is full time, that reason 
and science and history and experience should be 
considered in the interpretation of Scripture lan- 
guage, and that atheism and infidelity should not 
for ever be permitted to point the finger of scorn at 
the Bible, as a book which they allege controverts 
nature, and cannot therefore be from nature's God, 
for God never contradicts himself. Scripture and 
nature harmonize completely, when reasonably com- 
pared, and it is time this should be fully verified, 
and men delivered from the bondage of distrust and 
fear. But no, no, say churches and theologians ; 
you sinned in Adam before you were born, sixty 
centuries ago; your nature is corrupt; your reason 
is depraved ; history is false, and experience is falla- 
cious. 

Yes, this is the tyranny this revolting doctrine 
is practising on the world. It robs you of your di- 
vine dignity, deprives you of the exercise of reason, 
and then dooms you to woe for your misfortune. 
You seek for knowledge, and light, and truth ; but 
it tells you that you are spiritually, naturally blind, 



THE FIRST SIN. 



79 



and could not know the truth if found by you ; that 
your conscience cheats you, and your experience de- 
ceives you, and you are a helpless, miserable wretch, 
and you must submit yourself to the guidance of 
the church, and obey the preacher who has been illu- 
minated by the special grace of God. Be men, 
worthy of your divine lineage, throw off the spirit- 
ual yoke, and stand forth in the unobstructed sun- 
light of divine love, communing freely with your 
Father and your God. Obey the injunction of Jesus 
himself, " Why even of yourselves judge ye not what 
is right ? " 



DISCOUESE VI. 



THE IMMORAL TENDENCIES OF THE COMMON DOC- 
TRINE OF VICARIOUS ATONEMENT. 



Men sometimes possess pictures, which they re- 
gard as correct likenesses and admirable specimens 
of art ; but they are suspended in drawing-rooms, 
and are rarely looked at and seldom thought of, ex- 
cept when some guest presumes to criticise, and 
doubt their correctness and question the good taste 
of their possessors. Men possess books, which per- 
haps they once read, approve, and place upon their 
shelves, to rest quietly in their owner's library, unob- 
served and perhaps unremembered, till some visitor 
and reader presumes to call in question the philos- 
ophy of the book which has at one time received the 
approbation of its owner. It is the same with sys- 
tems of religious doctrines. Some men receive a 
doctrine or a system of doctrines, perhaps submit it 
to a cursory examination, perhaps to no examina- 
tion, but receive it implicitly on the authority of 
friends or teachers, approve it as no doubt logical 
and Scriptural, and, having thus decided on a relig- 
ious faith, go undisturbed about their ordinary pur- 



THE VICARIOUS ATONEMENT. 



81 



suits, — their doctrines, their religion, remaining qui- 
etly at home with the picture in the drawing-room or 
the volume in the library, — the possessors of this 
religious faith being governed in all the pursuits of 
life by the laws, and rules, and usages, and influ- 
ences, which control society. But scarcely any relig- 
ious doctrine is entirely a dead letter, however great- 
ly modified in its tendency by social influences. Of 
the prevailing system of doctrines, no one is more 
universally or frequently enforced, nor is there any 
one more objectionable in its practical tendencies, 
than the doctrine of vicarious atonement, in its va- 
rious phases or theories of redemption, substitution, 
and satisfaction. 

First, it is objectionable because it tends to con- 
fuse our minds, and degrade our conception of the 
Supreme Deity. It represents one part of the God- 
head as sacrificing or atoning to another. The 
wrath of the Father is appeased, his justice satis- 
fied ; but to the Son and Holy Spirit no satisfaction 
has been made. And no atonement has been made 
to God, for all of them make God ; one part has 
made atonement to another, while a third part 
neither gives nor receives satisfaction. One theory 
degrades God by making him a mere combatant 
of the Devil, who is represented as one of his own 
creatures, who is contesting with the Almighty 
the government of the universe ; and in the end, it 
is to be difficult to know who is lord or victor, for 
the enemy of God, notwithstanding all God's plans 
of salvation, is to be the eternal master of the great- 
er part of God's human creation. Another theory 
degrades God by representing him as vindictive. 



82 



THE IMMORAL TENDENCIES OF THE 



and inexorable, toward man ; that he has pro- 
nounced a sentence against all mankind, and in his 
vengeance is determined it shall be executed, unless 
an equivalent is offered to him, and his anger is 
bought off by a price. I may ask here, as has been 
asked before, " What real economy is there in the 
transaction ? What is effected, save the transfer of 
penal evil from the guilty to the innocent ? If the 
great Redeemer, in the excess of his goodness, con- 
sents, freely offers himself to the Father, or to God, 
to receive the penal woes of the world in his own 
person, what does it signify, when that offer is ac- 
cepted, but that God will have his modicum of suf- 
fering somehow, if he lets the guilty go, — will yet 
satisfy himself out of the innocent ? In which [pro- 
ceeding] the divine government, instead of clearing 
itself, assumes the double ignominy, first, of letting 
the guilty go, and secondly, of accepting the suffer- 
ings of innocence ! " (Bushnell.) The practical 
tendency of this degrading view of God is apparent, 
now, in the preaching and worship of the churches. 
Christian worshippers offer to God the worship of 
fear, but to Jesus the worship of love. They seem 
to shudder at approaching God as approaching an 
enemy, while they seem with confidence to seek for 
Jesus, as a friend. They worship God as an awful, 
inexorable Sovereign, while they pray to Jesus as a 
kind Mediator, a tender intercessor, interposing be- 
tween human frailty and divine anger ; and not con- 
tent with this, the majority of the Christian world, 
at this hour, pray to Mary, the mother of Jesus, as 
the Mother of God, to exercise her maternal influ- 
ence, and avert the vengeance of her Son. Enter 



COMMON DOCTRINE OF VICARIOUS ATONEMENT. 83 

the churches called Episcopal, everywhere, and when, 
in repetition of the creed, the name of Jesus is ut- 
tered, every head is bent in grateful homage, while 
not a muscle is moved at the august name of " God 
the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth." 
Such is the degraded conception of God which this 
doctrine occasions in the minds of worshippers. 

But further, the common doctrine of vicarious 
atonement is objectionable, because of its immoral 
tendency, in confusing all our ideas of justice, and 
degrading the justice of God below the justice of 
man. For no human government now existing 
could act upon the principle involved in the doc- 
trine of vicarious atonement, and exist for a single 
month. Human governments on this theory are 
stricter in their justice than the Divine government, 
for they neither demand, nor will accept, the penalty 
of the law from any other than the guilty person, 
the offender. Let us see how this vicarious justice 
would operate under human governments. The fifty 
men who were so summarily despatched at Havana 
were taken under circumstances which, to say the 
least, might lead the Cubans to suspect hostile de- 
signs on the part of these men. With some show 
of justice, having tried and found them guilty, sen- 
tence of death was pronounced. But instead of 
executing these men, suppose the government had 
said, We will acquit these men, provided we can ob- 
tain a substitute of sufficient dignity to suffer and 
satisfy the demands of our law. Suppose the Gov- 
ernors of Louisiana and Florida to have been pres- 
ent to intercede for the prisoners, and the government 
should propose to accept them as substitutes for the 



THE IMMORAL TENDENCIES OF THE 



fifty prisoners, and as a last resort they generously 
agree, and on these conditions the prisoners are dis- 
charged, and the two Governors are taken out on 
the public square and executed. Much as the world 
might have admired the generous heroism of the 
Governors, what would the world have said of this 
act of the Cuban government? That it was fair 
and just ? Would not an exclamation of horror 
have burst from every civilized nation of the globe 
at this act of monstrous inhumanity ? Could any 
human power have prevented thousands from rising, 
in their irrepressible indignation, and with a stroke 
sweeping that government from the face of earth ? 
When during the Revolutionary contest Major Andre 
was arrested as a spy, military justice pronounced on 
him sentence of death. But suppose that, instead of 
executing the sentence, Washington had accepted 
General Lafayette as a substitute, and, discharging 
Andre who had been pronounced guilty, had hung 
Lafayette by the neck until he was dead. Would 
this have been considered satisfying justice ? Would 
not every soldier in the army have cursed Washing- 
ton, as a monster of cruelty ? Would they not at 
once have unanimously deposed him from his com- 
mand, and, instead of living for ever as the father of 
his country, would not the name of Washington 
have lived only in company with those of Nero and 
Caligula, to have received the execrations of succes- 
sive generations ? It is but a few months since two 
negroes were legally tried in this city for the crime 
of murder. The legal justice of the State pronounced 
them guilty. But instead of executing the sentence 
of the law, suppose the Governor of Tennessee had 



COMMON DOCTRINE OF VICARIOUS ATONEMENT. 85 

proposed to discharge the criminals, provided the 
honorable chief magistrate of Nashville should suf- 
fer the penalty pronounced on them ; and he, accept- 
ing the proposal, had been executed on the gallows, 
and the criminals released. Would this have been 
regarded as satisfying justice ? Or would not the 
Governor, instead of retiring with distinguished hon- 
or, have been driven in disgrace before the unani- 
mous indignation of an outraged people ? Yet this 
appalling cruelty in man is what this doctrine calls 
satisfying the justice of God. And thus is the im- 
mutable attribute of Deity changed from a ground 
of human confidence into a cause of human terror. 
For what human being can repose confidence in the 
perfect justice of God, when the only idea he can 
entertain of the justice of God is one of the most re- 
volting cruelty ? For the government of this State to 
act on this idea of justice, and to be obedient to the 
injunction of Jesus, " Be ye perfect even as your 
Father in heaven is perfect," the Governor should 
persuade the wisest and purest among the dignita- 
ries of the Commonwealth to satisfy the demands 
of justice , endure the penalty pronounced against the 
criminals of the state-prison, while they should be 
released from confinement and discharged from obli- 
gation. 

But this doctrine of atonement is further objec- 
tionable, because of its immoral tendency to foster 
the spirit of dissension and of war. Jesus is styled 
the Prince of Peace; Christianity is called the re- 
ligion of peace, and its chief design, it is declared, 
is to bring peace on earth and to produce good-will 
among men. But it is doubtful whether any relig- 
8 



86 THE IMMORAL TENDENCIES OF THE 

ion that ever blessed or cursed the world has caused 
more blood to flow by persecutions among its own 
devotees, than what has called itself Christianity. 
And this cruel, bloodthirsty, vindictive, and unfor- 
giving spirit, among the professed believers of Chris- 
tianity, in direct contradiction to the plainest teach- 
ings of Jesus, is fairly attributable in a great degree 
to this doctrine of vicarious atonement, — inexorable 
divine vengeance demanding satisfaction, determined 
to have blood, if not of the guilty, then the shed 
blood of innocence. Can human beings be expect- 
ed to be less resentful, more forgiving, than their 
God ? If God will have his modicum of suffering, 
if God will have his " pound of flesh," somehow, 
from one or from another, from the wicked or the 
righteous, then is it not unreasonable in the highest 
degree to expect, feeble, irritable, passionate man to 
love his enemies, and bless them that persecute him, 
and do good to them that hate him ? Surely, this is 
expecting man to be superior to his Maker. A doc- 
trine which makes God a Shylock, cannot expect 
man to be an angel. 

This hour, there are probably in the world called 
Christian more weapons of death, more instruments 
expressly invented and fabricated for the destruction 
of human life, than in all the Mahometan and Pagan 
world besides. And we have only to read the pages 
of ecclesiastical history, to read the heart-rending 
history of Christian men, and women and their chil- 
dren, slaughtered by tens of thousands by Christian 
men, because of a difference of opinion in the inter- 
pretation of some words of this book called the Bi- 
ble. It is not long since men were condemned and 



COMMON DOCTRINE OF VICARIOUS ATONEMENT. 87 

burned ; but now and here our laws protect us from 
the fire and sword. Still, what the laws permit 
to be done is done, and here in this community, 
within a few weeks, a minister and half a dozen 
men constitute themselves a church tribunal, and 
arraign one of their neighbors, a man of irreproach- 
able character, refuse him the privilege which he re- 
quests of silently withdrawing from their worship, 
and, acknowledging that they find no fault in him, 
brand him with what they regard as the reproach 
of heresy, and suspend him, and threaten to ex- 
communicate him, unless he retract, and change 
his opinions ; his only sin being that he interprets 
some language of Scripture differently from them. 
It is thus that men, imitating their God, exact their 
atonement and satisfy their justice. Thus man, 

" Dressed in a little brief authority, 

Plays such fantastic tricks before high Heaven 
As make the angels weep." 

Thus men assume the office of champions of God ; 
and thinking his honor intrusted to their custody, 
they feel authorized to fight God's battles, and sub- 
due his enemies. 

One of the most eminent living clergymen of this 
country declares that " the great end of God is 
war and conquest. The incarnate God is not chiefly 
an educator, but a warrior. There is a God, and a 
king and a kingdom to be destroyed, and he is the 
great destroyer." Such ministers may pray for a 
reign of love and charity and peace ; but it is crying- 
Peace! peace! when there is no peace, and can be 
none while the chief office of God is represented to 
be that of a warrior, a mere combatant of the Devi], 



88 THE IMMORAL TENDENCIES OF THE 

who is regarded as his great enemy. Ministers may 
exhort their auditors to shun resentful and vindictive 
feelings ; but what avail such exhortations, when 
accompanied with arguments to convince them that 
God executes vengeance, and exacts the penalty to 
the utmost, and that not only upon the sinful, but 
upon the sinless ? Men desire not to be better, holier, 
than their Deity. They do not aspire to such a su- 
periority ; they are content to fall far short of such a 
standard. There is too much truth in that remark 
attributed to a British statesman, that, "inasmuch as 
God has made man in his own image, man has re- 
turned the compliment, and made God in his image." 
It is a melancholy fact, a standing reproach to the 
profession, that among clergymen, as a class, towards 
each other, there is less fraternal feeling, less social 
intercourse, less delicate courtesy, less true gentle- 
manly bearing, than among members of any other 
profession or any other class of society. Each one, 
with a haughty, frigid self-complacency, seems to 
feel himself dignified as the special conservator of 
divine truth, and so he passes by on the other side 
from his clerical neighbor, thanking God that he is 
not as other men, not even as that publican. Men 
imitate the Deity they worship, and such a poison- 
ous tree as that of vicarious atonement could only 
produce such deadly fruit. 

Still further, this doctrine is objectionable, because 
of its immoral tendency to weaken the sense of hu- 
man obligation. If Jesus assumed the obligations 
of the world, if all their sins and guilt were antici- 
pated centuries before their birth, and the full penal- 
ty of infinite suffering paid, — and there cannot pos- 



COMMON DOCTRINE OF VICARIOUS ATONEMENT. 89 

sibly be more than infinite suffering, — men, notwith- 
standing the continual self-contradictory preaching 
as to human duty, will argue that human agency 
has nothing to do in the matter of their salvation. 
What obligation are men under to God, when he 
has exacted the full payment of their debt from an 
indorser, who assumed their obligations before they 
had existence, and discharged the whole debt in ad- 
vance of its contraction ? Men feel that God is bound 
to meet his engagement, and has no claim on them, 
can justly exact nothing, their indorser having to 
the very utmost met his inexorable demands. Men 
feel that they owe God nothing, and it is unjust for 
him to ask anything of them. Deity demanded sat- 
isfaction, and satisfaction he has obtained, — what 
more does he want ? This language is painful ; but 
the subject demands it. But after describing the 
dealings of the Infinite in the language of debtor 
and creditor, and degrading the sublime death of 
Jesus into a mere bloody signature to a certificate 
of discharge from obligation, on the ground of uni- 
versal bankruptcy, preachers continue to be singu- 
larly amazed at the coldness and indifference of men 
to the claims of the Gospel. Claims of the Gospel ! 
By this theory, what claims can the Gospel have on 
men ? Has Jesus failed to answer these claims to 
the utmost for the world ? Or did he only answer 
them partially, — only on conditions, — suffer infinite 
wrath, equivalent to eternal misery, only to give man 
a chance of doing as he pleased, a chance of attain- 
ing endless felicity or securing his own damnation ? 
What a tissue of absurdities and immoralities does 
this doctrine place before us at every turn ! It is 
8* 



90 THE IMMORAL TENDENCIES OF THE 



useless for preachers to treat the repugnance of rea- 
son and affection to this doctrine as the sign of a 
depraved and graceless heart. It is nothing beyond 
truth to say, as some one has said, that some men 
feel, " that to accept the offer of such a doctrine 
would be unworthy of a noble heart; for he who 
would not rather be damned, than escape through 
the sufferings of innocence and sanctity, is so far 
from the qualifications of a saint, that he has not 
even the magnanimity of Milton's fiends." 

Why should the clergy so deplore the unright- 
eousness of men who profess Christianity, when 
they themselves are daily teaching those men, that 
righteousness is dangerous, that man's righteous- 
ness is worse than nothing, because he may rely up- 
on his righteous deeds as the conditions of inward 
peace and the grace of God, by which means his 
good works become the means of his perdition? He 
must repudiate all righteous deeds, as being wholly 
valueless, and must rely solely on the merits of 
Christ. It is dangerous in the extreme to have any 
merit of our own. "We must attach no merit what- 
ever to any deeds of ours. 

Too much, alas ! too much is this doctrine re- 
duced to practice. It is not wonderful, but perfect- 
ly consistent with the religious instructions which 
many men receive, that we frequently see those who 
are most devout on Sunday the most dishonest on 
Monday; those who on Sunday sing loudest, and 
pray longest, and groan deepest, and look gravest, 
all through the week take the greatest advantage, 
pay the least regard to truth, are everything but be- 
nevolent, and scorn amiability as a weakness. Hon- 



COMMON DOCTRINE OF VICARIOUS ATONEMENT. 91 

esty, truthfulness, good- will, and courtesy ! what 
are these but morality ? and morality is dangerous, 
says the preacher, and the hearer echoes it. It is 
religion that is the essential thing. Religion with- 
out morality is a whited sepulchre. Christian mo- 
rality without religion is a contradiction in terms. 
Merit! righteousness! you can have none, says the 
preacher; you must rely solely on the merits and 
righteousness of Christ; and the hearer echoes it, 
and he lives so as to do something like justice to 
the preacher's teachings. Sins ! what has the man 
to do with sins ? of course he sins, but Jesus is a 
" good legal tender" for his sins, and the account is 
always kept square, — provided only — if sufficient 
inconsistency be tolerated to have any provision 
in the case — provided he have religion ; that is, 
attends punctually to what the preacher calls the 
" means of grace," goes to church promptly, listens 
attentively, prays fervently in the prayer-meeting, 
calls himself with great ardor "the very chief of 
sinners," and then on Monday morning proves the 
truth of his acknowledgments, by showing that, if 
not the very chief of sinners, it is his misfortune, 
not his fault, for he does the best to make his con- 
fession good. 

Some years ago, the whole country was agitated 
by what were termed revivals of religion. Hear 
what Mr. Finney, one somewhat notorious among 
revivalists, says now, at this distance of time look- 
ing round upon the remains of those efforts. " Where 
are the proper results of the glorious revivals we 
have had ? I believe they were genuine revivals of 
religion, and outpourings of the Holy Ghost, that 



92 



THE IMMORAL TENDENCIES OF THE 



the Church has enjoyed the last ten years. I be- 
lieve the converts of the last ten years are among 
the best Christians in the land. Yet, after all, the 
great body of them are a disgrace to religion. Of 
what use would it be to have a thousand members 
added to the Church, to be just such as are now in 
it? Would religion be any more honored by it, in 
the estimation of ungodly men ? Of what use is it 
to convert sinners, and make them feel that there is 
something in religion, and then, when they go to 
trade with you, or meet you in the street, to have 
you contradict it all, and tell them by your conform- 
ity with the world, that there is nothing in it ? " 

Such are the issues of what he believes to be 
" genuine outpourings of the Holy Ghost." But 
what, in the name of reason, would such a preacher 
expect, after having given to these converts assur- 
ance that Jesus satisfied divine justice, and they are 
relieved from the burdens of their guilt ? Their 
whole debt being cancelled, and everything they 
have being clear, unembarrassed capital, it is the 
most natural thing in the world that they should 
recommence business, open a new account in sin, 
with the comfortable assurance of a similar acquit- 
tal at another outpouring of the Holy Ghost. This 
doctrine is immoral in its tendency, as unscriptural 
and unreasonable in itself. 

This doctrine of vicarious atonement is immoral, 
I contend, in all its logical tendencies. Because it 
degrades our conception of the Supreme Being, by 
making one part of God submit to suffering and 
murder in order to appease the wrath and satisfy 
the justice of another part. It is immoral, because 



COMMON DOCTRINE OF VICARIOUS ATONEMENT. 93 

it confounds all our ideas of justice, in making inno- 
cence to suffer in the room of guilt, in discharging 
the sinful, and punishing the sinless. It is immoral, 
because it fosters the spirit of bigotry and of war, 
by causing men to imitate its representation of God, 
in resentment, vindictiveness, retaliation, cruelty, 
bloodthirstiness, and by justifying intolerant and 
uncharitable action. 

This doctrine is immoral in its tendency, because 
it weakens the sense of human obligation, by repre- 
senting the entire burden of guilt to have been placed 
on Jesus, by making him pay the whole debt of the 
world's sin. It thus becomes equivalent to a divine 
certificate qualifying men for evil, — an indulgence 
authorizing men to commit sin, — a system for cher- 
ishing which Protestants so bitterly denounce the 
Church of Rome. It is immoral, because it destroys 
in men's minds the necessary connection between 
acts and their effects, — the invariable law, by which 
wrong is followed by retribution; it closes men's 
eyes to the very facts of hourly experience, and en- 
courages men to look for a theory to exempt them- 
selves from the effects of wrong, instead of a princi- 
ple, and purity, and purpose, that will preserve them 
from the commission of wrong. It is immoral, be- 
cause it dissociates religion from morality, and piety 
from the concerns of common life, by substituting a 
mystical faith for actual beneficence, a mere belief 
for positive good works, formal prayers for pure prac- 
tices and outward rites for inward holiness. This 
doctrine is immoral, because it tends to retard all 
true social, intellectual, and moral progress, by de- 
preciating human efforts, and undervaluing human 



94 THE IMMORAL TENDENCIES OF THE 



science, human wisdom, benevolence, and righteous 
deeds. 

In the thirty-nine articles which form the creed 
of one of the large and respectable denominations of 
this country, the thirteenth article says: " Works done 
before the grace of Christ and the inspiration of his 
holy spirit are not pleasant to God." The eighteenth 
article reads : " They also are to be had accursed 
that presume to say, that every man shall be saved 
by the law or sect which he professeth, so that he 
be diligent to frame his life according to that law 
and the light of nature. For holy Scripture doth 
set out unto us only the name of Jesus Christ, 
whereby we must be saved." 

The Westminster Shorter Catechism, which is 
learned and repeated by probably ten thousand chil- 
dren in the United States this day, says : " Christ 
executeth the office of a priest in his once offering 
up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice." 
Again : " Christ's humiliation consisted in his under- 
going the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, the 
cursed death of the cross." Truth is worth search- 
ing for, and when found richly does it repay the la- 
bor it has cost. There is no doctrine more frequent- 
ly enforced, in some one of its phases, than that of 
vicarious atonement. Examine it fearlessly, analyze 
it closely, trace it back to its origin, observe its ef- 
fects, and follow it out in its tendency, and decide 
upon its character. Decide upon its authority, de- 
termine whether, by any rule, principle, or process of 
interpretation, the Scripture, the Gospel record, is 
even to be forced or distorted into the support of 
such a doctrine. 



COMMON DOCTRINE OF VICARIOUS ATONEMENT. 95 



Friends, I speak earnestly on this subject, for I 
feel deeply. This is no question to be dismissed 
from your minds, with your exit from this edifice to- 
night. I stand not here to entertain you, to help to 
kill the dulness of Sunday-time ; but, if possible, to 
awaken thought and quicken consciences. The 
truth on this question is of direct, personal, practi- 
cal, and perpetual interest to every man, — as much 
so as your statute-books, and day-books, and ledgers, 
your stocks and your exchanges, your bills payable 
and your bills receivable, your legislative business 
and your office business, your store business and 
your shop business, your home enjoyments, and your 
most private, sacred, inward happiness. 

Then if you have considered it, reconsider it, 
and still again consider it ; weigh it solemnly in all 
its bearings, and, never presuming that you have 
found all truth, continue in unceasing pursuit of 
truth, and boldly, firmly, with more than the firm- 
ness of your mountain rock, yet with the Christian 
gentleness of a childlike spirit, hold fast ever to the 
good ; for good, like God, is eternal. 



DISCOURSE VII. 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 

WHEN HE WAS YET A GREAT WAY OFF, HIS FATHER SAW 
HIM, AND HAD COMPASSION ON HIM. Luke XV. 20. 

IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS, HE IS FAITHFUL AND JUST TO 
forgive us. — 1 John i. 9. 

The more closely I observe, the more am I per- 
suaded that nearly all controversies, discussions, and 
even calm inquiries, might be narrowed down to a 
definition of terms, — an explanation of the sense in 
which we understand the words which we employ. 
For men are constantly using the same words as if 
they meant the same thing, when they differ widely 
in their meaning ; and, again, using the same words 
as if attaching a different sense to them, while both 
are using them in exactly the same sense. Forgive- 
ness is a term frequently employed in Scripture, 
and it is often employed in the common language 
of life. There appears to prevail much confusion 
of ideas in connection with it. On coming to ex- 
amine closely the idea expressed by the term for- 
giveness^ there seems indeed to be a peculiar indefi- 
niteness in the word itself, though it should stand 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 



97 



for a very definite idea. In a religious, or scriptural, 
or theological sense, it is said that God forgives 
man's sins. Religion appears to be regarded by 
many, perhaps by most persons, by most Christians 
of every name, liberal and exclusive, as a plan, 
means, or agency by which men may obtain par- 
don, i. e. exemption from effects, entire justification 
from the Deity, for the commission of sin. 

That sinful acts are necessary appears to be as- 
sumed, so far that the chief object of Christianity, 
it is alleged, is to secure, in some way, pardon or 
forgiveness from God for committing those neces- 
sary acts; i. e. that the Supreme Ruler shall over- 
look, or forget entirely, by some means, the wrong 
which man does, and regard him with approbation, 
as if no sin had been committed. In consistency 
with this view, several things are taken for granted. 
First, it is taken for granted that men must sin. 
Next, it is taken for granted that God is personally 
angry with men, and will punish them, not retribu- 
tively, but vindictively, for sin. In the third place, it 
is taken for granted that God can, if he will, over- 
look, forget, or blot out, literally and entirely, the 
remembrance of men's sins, or, in other words, that 
he can allow men to sin without allowing any evil 
consequences whatever to result from sinning. And 
finally, it is taken for granted, that, by the use of 
some certain means, men may conciliate the divine 
favor, induce God, or place him under obligation, to 
turn away the consequences of sin, and secure that 
which is expressed by the term forgiveness. 

The subject is one of universal, profound, and en- 
during interest, and worthy, therefore, of the most 
9 



98 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 



earnest consideration. This consideration let us en- 
deavor to give to the subject in the simplest and 
plainest language possible. 

What is meant by forgiveness, either on the part 
of God towards man, or as exercised by man towards 
man ? To obtain something like a satisfactory reply 
to this inquiry, we are not to assume that sin is ne- 
cessary, that men must sin, and that to forgive is to 
remove responsibility for sinning, to deliver from the 
natural and just consequences of sinning. This would 
be simply to take everything for granted, and leave 
no room for inquiry. Further investigation would be 
useless. What, then, is sin ? In the words of St. 
Paul, sin is the transgression of law ; where there 
is no law, there is no transgression. What law is 
meant? In general terms, the law of our being, 
which is the law of God ; the laws established .by 
the Creator for the government of man, and by 
which our physical and intellectual and spiritual 
existence and action must be ruled. 

Of some of the principles or laws which the Cre- 
ative Intelligence has established to govern our exist- 
ence and action, we are, in a greater or less degree, 
ignorant. With most of them, however, most men 
are acquainted. By intuition, or by reason, or by 
revelation, or by all combined, most men know when 
they do wrong; most men know when they violate 
the natural law, which, as proceeding from the Cre- 
ator, is also the divine law, which should rule the 
body, or the mind, or the spirit. But whether or 
not men know, to search for, to discover, and sub- 
mit to the principles or laws ordained by the Creator 
for our welfare, appears to be the chief end of our 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 



99 



temporal or visible existence. And in such inquiry, 
discovery, and submission consists our highest earth- 
ly happiness, our true well-being. 

And first, let us illustrate as to forgiveness be- 
tween man and man. What is effected when one 
person forgives another? A man with knowledge 
and design wrongs you in property and person. 
He thus occasions privation of outward comfort, 
bodily pain, and mental agony. "What then is meant 
by your forgiving him ? Is it meant that the injury 
which he has done ceases to be an injury, in con- 
sequence of your pardon ? Does your forgiveness 
cause what was wrong to be no longer a wrong, but 
absolutely right, or blot it from existence and cause 
it to be nothing? Certainly not. Does your for- 
giveness of the injury restore to yourself your lost 
property, or recover to yourself your lost comfort 
and health ? Certainly not. But he may replace by 
other property that which he has destroyed ; he may 
measurably mitigate your pain of mind, and relieve 
your pain of body. Then does your forgiveness 
leave him innocent, as though he had never done 
the injury ? Does the time in which he did the wrong 
cease to be time ? does the property cease to be prop- 
erty ? does the pain cease to be pain ? is the act no 
longer an act? In a word, does your forgiveness 
cause all that was real to be unreal? does it anni- 
hilate fact ? does it make something to be nothing ? 
This is impossible, absolutely, in the very nature of 
things. 

Then what is meant by the pardoning or forgiving 
of that same wrong, by the Supreme Ruler ? For 
wrong, or sin, being the transgression of the laws of 



100 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 



our being, whether the injury be immediately to our- 
selves, or to another, is equally sin against God, the 
author of those laws. 

When one prays for pardon for his sins, does he 
desire, and does he expect, that by forgiveness he is 
to be absolutely innocent, and the same as though 
he had never sinned? Does he desire and expect 
that God will annihilate the time in which he did 
wrong, and continue the thread of his existence as 
though no such time had ever been ? Does he de- 
sire and expect that forgiveness shall cause the fact 
of his actions to be no longer fact ? Or, in fine, does 
he desire and expect that by forgiveness God's re- 
membrance, and his own remembrance, of the fact or 
identity of his act, shall at once and for ever perish ? 
If so, I only ask, does he not desire and expect what 
is against nature, against reason, against experience, 
against revelation, which declares all shall receive for 
the wrong they do, and against all that he himself 
knows of the world, or of man, or of God ? Or does 
he desire and expect either more or less than positive 
annihilation of his own being, the loss of his iden- 
tity? 

The question still remains with undiminished in- 
terest, What is meant by forgiveness ? Here we 
have to confess, that we are limited on every side, 
by the imperfection and ambiguity of human lan- 
guage, — we fail to express in terms the realities of 
thought and feeling. Let us here follow experience, 
and listen to her voice, as far as it is capable of dis- 
tinct enunciation, and bring the result to the inter- 
pretation of Scripture language. 

For an instance, — you are a parent; you desire 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 



101 



your child, under certain circumstances, to pursue a 
course which you carefully prescribe, In your ma- 
ture wisdom, you provide what you consider a suita- 
ble rule or law, by which the child is to be governed. 
Obedience to this law, on the part of the child, is to 
secure his own comfort, and your gratifying appro- 
bation. Disobedience is to bring injury upon him- 
self, and perhaps discomfort and even pain to you. 
Under the circumstances against which the law was 
provided, the child violates, transgresses the law, 
and brings upon himself the injury and pain which 
you declared and indicated as the legitimate result, 
in case of disobedience. 

We now readily perceive the mental condition of 
the child. He first experiences the bitterness of suf- 
fering brought upon himself by his own wrong act ; 
to this is superadded the thought of disobedience, — 
the feeling of guilt. How shall he meet the parent 
whom he has disobeyed, whose authority he has 
disregarded, whose law he has violated ? He 
shrinks from the look of reproach, he dreads the 
pain of punishment. True, he remembers the un- 
failing kindness of his parent ; but this remembrance 
only aggravates his sense of guilt; he reproaches him- 
self still more for his ungrateful disobedience. Still 
he seeks the presence of his parent sorrowfully, ac- 
knowledges his guilt, and implores forgiveness. You 
as the parent meet him ; you discover instantly the 
wrong that he has done ; you affectionately embrace 
your disobedient child ; you mingle your tears of 
compassion with his tears of anguish and repentance; 
you assure him of your pardon, of your aid, of your 
unabated love. He feels, he knows, that he is for- 
9* 



102 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 



given ; he no longer looks for your word of reproach, 
he no longer dreads to meet an angry countenance ; 
in your tears and smiles he sees the bow of promise, 
which gives him the fullest assurance of your par- 
doning love. 

But now that he is actually forgiven, does it cease 
to be a fact, that he disobeyed his parent, violated 
law, and brought suffering upon himself? While 
his wounded body lives, will it not bear the mark of 
the injury which he has inflicted on it? While 
memory remains, can he wholly forget his disobe- 
dience ? Can time be rolled back to cover the fact 
of his wrong-doing? Can a portion be taken out 
from the eternity of the past, and sunk into the dark- 
ness of oblivion ? This is something of which the 
mind can form no possible conception. Still he is 
forgiven, and now, with increased love, with a great- 
er debt of gratitude, he obeys and honors and re- 
veres his forgiving parent. 

Then for a parent to forgive a child is simply this, 
namely, for the parent to assure the child that no 
feeling of resentment is cherished, that he still loves 
the child with the true affection of a parent, although 
this assurance, this forgiveness, can never destroy the 
fact of the child's disobedience, — can never efface 
from the child's mind the capacity of remembering 
the wrong with which it has once been justly charge- 
able. 

Now we must be careful not to press too far the 
analogy between the relation of a human parent to 
his child, and the relation of the Infinite Father to 
his earthly children. Neither can we press the lan- 
guage of the Scriptures, which is adapted to our im- 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 



103 



perfect conceptions of infinite perfection. For our 
view of God is only the view by a finite mind of a 
Being who is absolutely infinite. God is repre- 
sented in Scripture, now as being angry, now as 
being pleased, now resolving and now repenting, as 
now stretching out his hand, as now uttering his 
voice, now walking abroad, and now sitting on his 
throne. But these are all only the imperfect signs 
of absolute perfection and of absolute truth. You 
may be angry with your child, God cannot be angry. 
It is not a passion belonging to his nature. You 
may be pleased with your child, God cannot be 
literally pleased by us. For God is immutable and 
eternal. We literally can neither augment the pleas- 
ure, nor diminish the happiness of the One Infinite 
and absolutely Perfect. 

Now without considering each particular incident 
in the illustration by Jesus called the parable of the 
Prodigal Son, the parable, as a whole, illustrates 
forcibly, as it seems to me, the nature, conditions, 
and results of forgiveness. In its parts, it was de- 
signed to have a special signification to some of the 
persons to whom it was immediately addressed, but 
in the breadth of its spirit it affords a vivid repre- 
sentation of the repentant man and the forgiving 
God. The son, it is said, received his portion ; he 
voluntarily surrounded himself with evil influences ; 
his resources were soon exhausted ; he found himself 
in a destitute and miserable condition. By this he 
was brought to reflection ; he remembered the kind- 
ness of his parent ; he resolved to return to the home 
of his childhood, to confess his guilt, implore forgive- 
ness, and enter upon a new and virtuous career. 



104 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 



He carried his resolution into effect ; he started for 
the paternal mansion ; his parent discovered him 
while vet at a great distance ; instantly the compas- 
sionate father divined the condition of his delinquent 
son; and, waiting for no confessions, asking no prom- 
ises, demanding no satisfaction, he ran and met 
him, and embraced him, assuring him at once of 
forgiveness and of favor, and of true affection. 

And now he is actually forgiven, i. e. he is assured 
of his father's love, and no longer expects frowns, re- 
proach, and punishment; yet the health and time 
and treasure he has lost and misspent and wasted, 
are gone beyond all possible recovery. However he 
may improve the time to come, and whatever new 
health and treasure he may acquire, the evils he has 
brought upon himself, the wrong that he has done, 
can never cease to be facts, while the framework of 
the world remains ; nor can he cease to remember 
them, while he retains his personal identity. 

Now for man's relation to God. Does God change 
towards man, or man towards God ? Man received 
from God his portion, his high endowments as a 
moral being, for the improvement of which he is re- 
sponsible. He misuses and injures the powers in- 
trusted to him ; the consequences, sorrow, suffering, 
and remorse, soon appear. With his imperfect view 
of the Divine Being, he regards God as angry with 
him and inflicting punishment. He now humbles 
himself before the Great Intelligence, and while he 
is yet a great way off, while he yet dimly appre- 
hends the character of God, before he experiences 
that God is and always has been love, the compas- 
sion of the Heavenly Father meets him and comforts 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 



105 



him, by imparting to his troubled mind the assu- 
rance that God is not angry, but is ever gracious ; 
that God is not resentment, but is grace ; that God is 
not only a stern Judge, but a loving Father. He 
now feels that he is forgiven, but his forgiveness 
does not restore his mutilated body, does not of 
necessity strengthen his injured intellect, nor does it 
recall his misspent time. 

It is clear, then, that in the sense of entire exemp- 
tion from, a complete obliteration of, the natural re- 
sults of sin, the transgression of the laws of our being, 
the common expectation of forgiveness is unfound- 
ed. It is true, that, as in civil government, the oper- 
ation of one law is modified and restrained by the 
operation of another law ; so may the legitimate 
consequences of the violation of one law of our 
moral being be modified and restrained by the strict 
observance of another. Bat this is no departure 
from, but within, the established conditions of our 
existence. For within the whole range of human 
experience there is no warrant for the belief, there 
is no instance where it has ever occurred, that actual 
guilt has been converted into innocence, that wrong 
has been converted into right, or that the natural 
and legitimate consequences of the violation of the 
law of being have been wholly obliterated by any- 
thing called or understood to be forgiveness. The 
grace of God, as Scripture declares, is given to us 
that we may live soberly, righteously, and godly ; 
not that we may live sinfully, and escape the results 
of sin. 

The very terrfi forgiveness is an accommodation 
to our imperfect conception of the perfect God. 



106 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 



Accordingly, when we find in Scripture the phrase 
"forgiveness of sins," whatever it truly did signify 
to the minds of those who wrote or uttered it, we 
may not always clearly distinguish. But one thing, 
unquestionably, it does not signify to us; it does not 
signify complete exemption from the natural and 
just consequences of sin. The fact of having sinned 
can only perish with the individual himself. The 
marks and remembrance of the wrong can only 
cease with the person and the memory of the being 
who commits the wrong. Time and truth and in- 
nocence, once lost, can never, as all feel and know, 
be recovered, howsoever the effects of their loss may 
be moderated by time, and by subsequent fidelity to 
truth and virtue. New truth and new innocence 
may be acquired ; the lost innocence can never be 
regained. 

When we realize the natural result of sin, the vio- 
lation of the laws which rule our being, it is so or- 
dered, as one result of sin, that we regard God as 
angry with us, and inflicting arbitrary punishment 
upon us. In this frame of mind we seek relief in 
humble confession of our guilt, in reflection on our 
own misdeeds, and in contemplation of the Divine 
character. By this examination of ourselves, and 
contemplation of God, the mist which obscured our 
moral vision disappears, and we perceive more dis- 
tinctly the tenderness, the protection, the unceasing 
love, of the Supreme Father. The frown which our 
minds imagined on the countenance of the Deity 
passes away ; we find relief ; and this experience, be- 
cause no other words describe it, we call forgiveness. 
For at that same instant that we experience this 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 



107 



sense of pardon, we are the more humbled, the more 
profoundly reverent and grateful, because we remem- 
ber the wrong which we have done, the evil we have 
brought upon ourselves, the very marks of which we 
still bear about upon our bodies, and within our 
minds. The unchangeable God has not changed 
in feeling or in action, but our relation and feeling 
towards him have been changed by repentance and 
reform. 

Such are now, as far as we can discover, the na- 
ture and conditions of forgiveness, here in this 
world, and such, so far as we can discover them, 
they will be in all worlds, so long as man may need 
and call for forgiveness. Even for ever, if for ever 
there should by any possibility be any souls needing 
and calling for forgiveness, such will still be its na- 
ture and conditions ; namely, not God changed to- 
ward us, but a restored consciousness in us of the 
eternal compassion of God, a sense of alienation re- 
moved, on condition of repentance, reform, confi- 
dence, and love. 

From these considerations, we perceive — as no 
one man by pardoning another can annihilate the fact 
of the injury which the other has done, nor efface 
the rememberance of guilt from the other's mind — 
that by forgiveness, between man and man, we must 
understand simply this ; namely, the assurance, on 
the part of the one injured, that he will not retort 
upon the injurer the wrong which has been done 
by him ; that instead of anger, there shall be favor; 
instead of indignation, there shall be compassion ; 
instead of resentment, there shall be kindness ; in- 
stead of retaliation, there shall be self-control. 



108 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 



Whether from God towards man, or from man 
towards man, a correct understanding of forgive- 
ness, if a correct understanding be attainable, is a 
concern of the most practical, continued, and univer- 
sal moment, lest we persist in wronging others, or 
indulging in the violation of the laws which should 
rule our own nature, under the presumption that by 
the expression of good-will, by the disinclination to 
resentment, which we call forgiveness, guilt can 
be converted into innocence, vice into virtue, sin into 
holiness, and remorse into happiness ; — a presump- 
tion unwarranted by revelation, without a shadow 
of ground in reason, and against all human expe- 
rience. There can be no substitution of persons, no 
vicarious atonement, no annihilation of realities. It 
was thus, by his living, his teaching, and his dying 
for the truth, that Jesus proposed to save us from our 
sins; to point out the only way by which we should 
work out our own salvation from the consequences 
of sin, both temporally and eternally, by saving from 
the sins themselves. 

Fellow- Christians, worshippers, and searchers after 
truth, let us earnestly endeavor not to darken the im- 
age of the Deity within our own bosoms. Let us 
not, by injustice, unkindness, inconsiderate passion, or 
other voluntary wrong, stain the mirror of the soul, 
which, when unimpaired, reflects truly the glory of 
the attributes of God. But when, in our weakness, 
we fall before temptation, let us hasten in humble 
penitence to that prayerful meditation which shall 
quicken our blunted spiritual faculties into a just 
perception of the immutable love of the Divine 
Father, which shall bind us all more closely, in bonds 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 



109 



of gratitude, to a life of more perfect purity. For 
the pure in heart never lose the sense of a Divine 
presence, never distrust the Infinite beneficence. 

God forgives me when I sin, not by a miraculous 
suspension of the natural operation of his laws, not 
by reversing the conditions of my being and destroy- 
ing my identity, — for he executes righteous judg- 
ment, rendering to every man according to every 
man's own work, — but by affording to my imperfect, 
sorrowing, and bewildered spirit the comforting as- 
surance of his immutable goodness, infinite love, and 
perfect justice. Sorrow, penitence, and prayerful 
meditation are ministering angels to our troubled 
minds. 

" How beautifully falls from human lips 
That blessed word, Forgive ! 
Thrice happy he whose heart has been so schooled 
In the meek lessons of humanity, 
That he can give it utterance : it imparts 
Celestial grandeur to the human soul, 
And maketh man an angel." 



10 



DISCOURSE VIII. 



LAW OF RETRIBUTION. 

THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT OF GOD ; WHO WILL RENDER TO 
EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. — Roni. ii. 5, 6. 

The substance of this declaration is a number of 
times repeated in the New Testament. Matthew 
reports Jesus as saying, " The Son of Man shall 
come, and then shall he reward every man according 
to his works." St. Paul elsewhere frequently uses a 
similar form of expression, saying, " We must all 
appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that 
every one may receive the things done in his body, 
according to that he hath done, whether it be good or 
bad." " If there be first a willing mind, it is accept- 
ed, according to that a man hath, and not according 
to that he hath not." " Every man shall receive his 
own reward, according to his own labor." 

Was this a new principle, a new Divine decree, 
and thenceforth to be universally applied, because of 
its freshly declared authority ? Most manifestly it 
was no new principle, which had just flashed in ce- 
lestial light from the Divine mind. It was not true 
only because St. Paul declared it, but St. Paul af- 



LAW OF RETRIBUTION. 



Ill 



firmed it because it was true, — always had been, and 
always must be divinely true. It was now peculiar- 
ly revealed and enforced, but it had been always 
true as God is true. These words, in connection 
with those other words, " God is no respecter of 
persons; but in every nation, he that feareth him, 
and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him," — 
embody the grand truth of Christian revelation, the 
grand principle of Christian life, and the grand idea 
of Christian justice. For you remember St. Paul says 
of other nations than Hebrews, — those who have 
not a written or declared law, — that so far as they 
do by nature the things contained in the law, they 
are a law to themselves, having the work of the 
law (that is, the requirements of the law) written on 
their hearts, their consciences accusing or excusing. 
This principle of strict equity is well termed by St. 
Paul, "the righteous judgment of God." What 
other principle would be righteous, i. e. rigidly right 
to each and every moral being, variously circum- 
stanced, as each human being is, from his birthday 
to his death ? 

But how does this equitable principle comport 
with the theologies which have been systematized 
by ecclesiastical councils, during fifteen hundred 
years of the Christian era ? No ; say the theologies. 
God does not render to every man according to his 
deeds, but according to God's grace, or according to 
the merits of Christ. Here the principle of equity 
is emphatically denied, and a principle of substitu- 
tion is adopted. Our idea of strict justice is utterly 
confounded by the adoption of a vicarious theory. 
Instead of order, law, and harmony, disorder, un- 



112 



LAW OF RETRIBUTION. 



certainty, and confusion are asserted. The moral 
government of God is then irregular, unsettled, lia- 
ble, like human governments, to convulsions and 
revolution. In other words, the moral administration 
of God becomes a mere system of failures and cor- 
rections ; of mistakes and expedients ; of painful exi- 
gencies, and painful devices to meet the exigencies ; 
of defects in the original arrangements, and plans 
adapted to the supply of those defects. Christianity, 
by this view, becomes a mere system of machinery, 
designed to work out, to some limited extent, what 
was to have been much more perfectly wrought out 
by the original plan, had not the Divine intentions 
been all deranged by the stealthy interference of a 
heaven-born malicious enemy of God, a mighty 
prince of evil. 

In the face of this theology, what is the actual 
experience of mankind ? and what has been the ex- 
perience of every nation, race, and family, of which 
we have historic knowledge ? It is, that in the case 
of every individual, from the first man or men cre- 
ated to this hour, pain, privation, suffering, and all 
the common ills of life, have been exactly propor- 
tioned to the ignorant or wilful transgression of the 
divinely appointed and irrevocable laws of nature ; 
whilst enjoyment, peace, confidence, hope, and true 
superiority to common evils, have been always, with 
equal exactness, proportioned to the knowledge of, 
and obedience to the knowledge of, those same di- 
vinely appointed, unvarying conditions. But is 
there not, inquires an objecter or doubter, has there 
not always been, favoritism practised by nations ? 
Does observation prove that all men are similarly 



LAW OF RETRIBUTION. 



113 



affected by similar acts of obedience or disobedience, 
of ignorant or of wilful transgression ? Most cer- 
tainly not. Let us beware of misinterpretation. 
Nature, which is the expression of God, always acts 
in harmony with itself. Nature has always preserved 
its entire consistency, and justice has always been 
administered by nature. Similar effects have not 
appeared to follow similar acts, because no two act- 
ors have ever been similarly constituted and simi- 
larly situated. See the innumerable differences of 
age, of capacity, of knowledge, of external circum- 
stances of physical, mental, and moral constitution ; 
and on reflection you at once perceive that the re- 
tributive effects of similar actions must in equity cor- 
respond, both in appearance and in fact, with these 
countless shades of variation in man and his environ- 
ments. 

Here is a man of feeble physical and mental con- 
stitution, who transgresses law ; shall there be a spe- 
cial providence to supply him with vigor of body 
and mind, so that the retributive operation of his act 
shall manifest itself in the same manner as on one 
of naturally superior strength ? This would only be 
another form of the inequitable system to which we 
object. Here, then, is another more powerfully con- 
stituted, who is chargeable with a similar transgres- 
sion ; shall there be a special providence to reduce 
his natural state, so that the retributive operation ol 
his act shall, in his case, manifest itself in the samt 
way as on one of a much feebler constitution, anu 
differently situated ? This would only be a differeni 
exhibition of that arbitrary interference and suspen 
sion of the order of nature, which we oppose as in- 
10* 



114 



LAW OF RETRIBUTION. 



equitable and unjust. The effects of similar trans-, 
gressions are equal, but they are not similar; just as 
we would expect the effects of firing a cannon-ball 
from a gun of metal to appear very different from 
those produced by the firing of the same ball from a 
gun of glass. No, no ! men never, never have 
brought good from evil, nor right from wrong, any 
more than they have gathered grapes from thorns 
or figs from thistles. As the summer follows the 
spring-time, so the harvest succeeds the summer, 
and whatsoever a man soweth, that, and not some- 
thing else, shall he also reap, whether it be good, or 
whether it be evil. 

It is vain for theologians to persist in forcing 
upon human judgment a system which outrages 
man's natural sense of justice, by representing God 
as either demanding or receiving from innocence 
and purity, sacrifice, and suffering, and infinite an- 
guish, as an equivalent or satisfaction for a pen- 
alty due to real offenders ; then, in order to give 
plausibility to gross injustice, to represent God the 
Infinite and Supreme as himself reduced to an ex- 
tremity which rendered such a terrible alternative 
necessary to preserve his own honor, to vindicate 
his own character and conduct, and save his king- 
dom from subversion by powers of darkness, called 
the Devil and his angels. Diligently inculcated 
from the earliest dawnings of intellect, many may 
sincerely acknowledge such a theology as a dead 
letter ; but by rational, enlightened minds, it is never 
received as a living faith. Not only all the unper- 
verted instincts of humanity, but the almost uni- 
versal action of the world, repudiate and refute as 



LAW OF RETRIBUTION. 



115 



abhorrent and unjust the notion of wrath poured 
out, and suffering inflicted, on one who is purely in- 
nocent, as an equivalent or satisfaction for just retri- 
bution to real guilt. To preserve any idea of jus- 
tice, there must be, or appear to be, some proper 
connection, both in kind and degree, between the 
act of man and its consequence as cause and effect. 
This relation and proportion is clearly preserved 
by the Christian rule of rendering to every man ac- 
cording to his deeds. 

But all idea of relation or proportion is destroyed 
by the theologies, which overlook entirely the facts 
of life and law of retribution, as far as they are ac- 
tually seen, and known, and felt. Prevalent the- 
ology refers everything to the future beyond death, 
or back to Adam ; makes no account of the differen- 
ces of birth, capacities, and opportunities here, but 
divides all men into two unchangeable classes, one 
infinitely happy in heaven, and one infinitely wretch- 
ed in hell, and both conditions alike immutable and 
eternal. All idea of proper and just connection be- 
tween a man's life and a soul's destiny is destroyed, 
and, instead of having rendered to him according 
to his deeds, each one finds himself arbitrarily dis- 
posed of, according to something else than his deeds, 
according to the merits of another person, the merits 
of Christ, or the absolute pleasure, or, as it is styled 
by systems, " the unmerited grace of God." This is 
virtual annihilation. It is not reward, for the soul 
can see no proper connection between such an un- 
changeable heaven, and the life which he had, as a 
rational, moral agent, previously lived. It is not 
punishment, for neither did the soul anticipate, nor 



116 



LAW OF RETRIBUTION. 



can it then trace up, any relation between its pre- 
vious existence and the miserable condition in 
which it finds itself. All rational distinction has 
been blotted out, an arbitrary line has been drawn, 
and there is nothing to show where right ended 
and wrong began, where knowledge incurred re- 
sponsibility, or where ignorance exempted from re- 
sponsibility, among those who in life, together, 
seemed to stand as nearly as possible on the same 
level, whether as to virtue or vice, righteousness or 
sin. 

Concerning persons whose bodily life is suddenly 
destroyed, there is a very common manner of speak- 
ing, both among exclusive and liberal Christians, 
which is calculated to perpetuate erroneous impres- 
sions both of the nature of God and the relation of 
the human soul to God. Of persons executed, mur- 
dered, or removed from visible life by accident, it is 
common to say, that they were hurried into the 
presence of their Maker. Without warning, they 
were sent into the presence of their Judge. This 
language tends to perpetuate the notion of a local 
deity, an imperfect God, and also to degrade the 
true dignity of the present world and human life. 
Must a man die, to go into the presence of the Cre- 
ator of the universe ? Is it only beyond the grave 
that man stands before the bar of divine justice? 
From this lax use of language on the part of many 
Christians, one might suppose that each human 
constitution, each united soul and body, is nothing 
more than a little piece of machinery, a sort of clock- 
work, wound up, set in motion, by the Deity ; and 
while he turns aside to superintend the greater con- 



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cerns of his government, it is left to move on, till 
death in some shape stops it, when it is again 
brought into the presence of its Maker, who in his 
infinite pleasure, or free grace, is then to decide, 
whether it is to be set up again in a place of celes- 
tial splendor, as an everlasting ornament, or to be 
thrown aside as common rubbish, to be abused and 
bruised and trodden under foot for ever. Thus it is 
that life on this side of the grave is disjoined from 
life on the other side of the grave, — that this world 
is left without God, in order that those only who die 
may be in his presence,- — and there is no judgment 
and retribution now, so that there may be a great 
judgment away somewhere in the unseen, which 
by way of distinction is termed eternity. Hence 
men speak of religion as if it were only a prepara- 
tion for death, and speak of being pious, only that 
they may prepare to meet their God. "What won- 
der that the divinity of the soul is depreciated, and 
the dignity of life lowered, and the sacrednesss of 
this world denied ! So it must be, till men see and 
feel that there is goodness, and beauty, and sanctity, 
about this present life ; that, various and myste- 
rious as nature and providence may seem, incompre- 
hensible as those distant suns and shining stars, 
and these complicate frames and throbbing hearts 
may be, they are all still within the boundless em- 
brace of the arms of the Omnipotent, the All-wise, 
All-merciful, All-just; that there is not a planet which 
rolls, nor a leaf which falls, nor a meteor flash, nor 
a human breath, which is not seen and known by 
the Supreme Sovereign ; that " the eye of God is 
on all, and hallows all " ; that the smallest, feeblest 



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human voice may in reverence and hope say, " Thou, 
God, seest me ; I am in thy presence ; thou art my 
Creator, thou art my Father." 

Though nowhere visible in person, God is every- 
where visible in power. But will some one freeze 
up the fervor of my reverence, and darken the image 
of my hope, by asserting that this all-embracing law, 
including and controlling high and low, great and 
small, the world seen and the world unseen, tangi- 
ble and intangible, — that this is the law of nature 
only, and not the law of God ? "Well, without con- 
tending about words to no profit, let the stern the- 
orist change the term God for Nature, and tell me 
how much he has gained. See that order and sta- 
bility, birth and preservation, life, death, and renova- 
tion, which you would call the operation of the law 
of nature, — is it any more explicable as the law of 
nature than as the law of God ? Do you more 
clearly comprehend Nature as the originator and 
perpetrator of this ceaseless uniformity of vicissi- 
tude, than you can comprehend God as its origin 
and author ? Give me the new and clearer light, 
which by this change of terms you throw upon the 
universe, or upon life, or upon the human heart, give 
me your illumination, or be silent and leave me to 
my trust, and hope, and reverence, and worship. 

But here is the truth which is overlooked and 
where mistake is made. It is by law and not by 
impulse, by order and not by confusion, that God 
regulates worlds, and judges human actions. It is 
not by special plans, and counter-plans, to circum- 
vent the ingenuity of a mighty foe, an arch-fiend, 
and prevent his empire from invasion and disrup- 



LAW OF RETRIBUTION. 



119 



tion, but by harmonious and universal regulations, 
leaving man free, within limits, to decide on the tar- 
diness or the rapidity of his own progress, the devel- 
opment or the debasement of his own faculties, the 
increase or the decrease of his own enjoyment. God 
judges righteously, rendering to every man accord- 
ing to his deeds, and not to any man according to any 
other man's deeds, nor according to any arbitrary or 
impulsive pleasure of his own, which men call free 
and unmerited grace. As to the varied allotments 
of men externally, the history of every age and com- 
mon observation unite to prove that they are not to 
be regarded as the standard of human enjoyment. 
It may be, as it often is, that the man who for to- 
morrow has not the means of procuring food for his 
appetite, or a garment for his body, may possess a 
largeness and loftiness of soul, a serenity of thought, 
a depth of repose, a firmness of trust, and a brillian- 
cy of hope, to which the possessor of broad estates 
and luxurious abundance is an utter stranger. 

It is not in the number of acres a man owns, nor 
the sums he has invested in profitable stocks, nor in 
the spaciousness of his mansion, nor the costliness 
of his surroundings, nor the sumptuousness of his 
tables, that a man finds exemption from care, or 
freedom from anxiety. It is not by satiating his 
appetite, that a man can escape the pangs of re- 
morse. It is not by sinking languidly amid the 
downy cushions of his carriage or his palace, that a 
man can escape from the searchings of his insulted 
and offended conscience. No, let no sufferer among 
the poor and unfortunate of earth raise his weary, 
tear-moistened eyes, in envy or in execration of his 



120 



LAW OF RETRIBUTION. 



opulent neighbor, thinking that God has been par- 
tial, in permitting that neighbor's path to be strewn 
with flowers, and the air he breathes to be enriched 
with perfumes. No, no, poor sufferer though you 
be, who look upon that splendor, know that you 
cannot reach the inner depths of that neighbor's 
being, or with compassion you might see beneath 
those rich vestments a heart corroding with dark- 
ness, or burning with bitter remorse, or festering 
with foul passions, or writhing in the fetters of 
shadowy fears or well-grounded apprehensions. For 
the nature and degree of his retribution beyond 
the event of death is known only to Him who exe- 
cutes righteous judgment. True, the conscience 
may sometimes be temporarily stunned, stupefied, 
seared, and almost deadened, and what should be 
the life of a noble man approximates to the life of a 
senseless brute. But then I would ask any poor 
one, who has peace, — any humble one, who has a 
high, honest mind, — any landless, purseless body, 
which is inhabited, by a healthy, enlightened, world- 
observing, and enjoying soul, — would you exchange 
your poor, manly life, for that rich but sordid ani- 
mal life ? Let no one then be rash, lest he misin- 
terpret the externals of existence, in their relation 
to the righteous retribution of the Supreme Ruler. 
There are indeed those who are successful in life 
because they are worthy of being successful. There 
are men who are rich in worldly wealth, who feel 
themselves to be stewards of God, to dispense bless- 
ings to their fellow-men. They are centres of light, 
and joy, and gladness. Honestly they have gained, 
and freely they bestow, and like the meal and oil of 



LAW OF RETRIBUTION. 



121 



the widow in Sarepta, they find that their abun- 
dance fails not. They give, and yet gain by giving, 
having had faith enough to learn the heavenly les- 
son that it is more blessed to give than to receive. 
This surely is a happiness so exquisite and deep 
and holy, as to be almost enviable. But even here 
envy would be selfish ; for those who taste this joy 
of pouring blessings on their fellow-men have fairly 
earned it. It is theirs. God renders to them ac- 
cording to their deeds. To all such we should 
rather say, Peace be on you, and prosperity within 
your walls ; may you be like God's sun in the skies, 
which loses nothing by long shining, and like the 
clouds, which are not exhausted by repeated show- 
ers. Let Fortune flood her favors round such men 
while they live. 

If others feel as I have felt, it must create con- 
fusion, and painful questioning in the minds of 
worshippers, to hear ministers in their prayers, one 
moment adoring God for his perfections, the ful- 
ness and completeness of all his attributes, es- 
pecially for his infinite justice, and then in the 
next breath thanking God devoutly, that he has 
not been just to deal with them according to their 
deeds ; or had he been just to mark their transgres- 
sions, they would — and the world would — have 
long since been in darkness and misery everlasting, 
where hope and mercy can never enter. What can 
this mean ? Is it meant by praise, by flattery, to win 
his approbation, and so avert the wrath they may 
inflame by insinuating the want of justice in the 
Divine administration, — an absence of strict jus- 
tice, by which the worshippers are to be great gain- 
11 



122 



LAW OF RETRIBUTION. 



ers? The more I reflect over it, the more surpris- 
ing it appears that reasonable men can insist upon 
interpretations of Scripture, and upon the necessity 
of faith in substitutionary or vicarious doctrines, 
which reduce them to the necessity, even in their 
very prayers, of impugning and denying the strict 
justice of God himself, the Creator and Ruler of all 
worlds. Such seems always to be the desire of 
many to evade responsibility, and by some art or 
scheme of salvation escape from exact and rigid 
personal retribution. 

This earth is not a distant outpost, barely within 
the remote jurisdiction of the Almighty, but it is 
for ever under the Omniscient eye, it is filled and is 
sacred with his presence. Let us make no such 
mistake, then, as to suppose that we are left here 
for a period, only to prepare ultimately to meet our 
God. Let us not fancy that it is only death which 
ushers us into the presence of the Supreme Disposer 
of things, the Infinitely Just. Prepare to meet our 
God ! What is the import of that one of the beat- 
itudes of Jesus, " Blessed are the pure in heart, 
for they shall see God," and of his declaration, 
" The kingdom of God is within you," but that the 
incorrupt and unsullied bosom shall here, in propor- 
tion as it is incorrupt, see God in the wisdom and 
beauty and beneficence of his works ? " He that 
dwelleth in love," says the beloved disciple, " dwell- 
eth" — not merely shall dwell, but now dwelleth — 
" in God." 

Our great object is not to prepare for death. 
We are here first and chiefly, and it is the most 
solemn and noble thing, to prepare to live, — to live 



LAW OF RETRIBUTION. 



123 



well. For our living well is the only just prepara- 
tion for death, and for every conceivable vicissitude. 
Life is not incidental to death, but death is an inci- 
dent in life. Death performs no miracle, destroy- 
ing moral distinctions, but introduces man into the 
spiritual state of being at the precise point where 
as a moral agent he quitted this mortal state. Men 
speak of bringing the soul into eternity. Why, 
when does eternity begin ? Does eternity begin 
only when the last breath has expired from the 
body ? What is this life to you, to me, from the 
first dawn of our existence, but a portion of the 
eternal life which is allotted to us ? God, by the 
presence of his power and his justice, is as much in 
the birth-chamber and the sick-chamber, as in the 
death-chamber or the grave. Engaged in our pur- 
suits, in our most active hours, amid the busiest 
throng, it is still " in Him we live, and move, and 
have our being,' 1 as much as when the eye has 
been shut in aeath and closed down in the darkness 
of the tomb. 

Let us with scrupulous caution avoid even the 
use of words which, either in ourselves or others, 
may tend to imbue us with low views of the real 
dignity of the soul; to degrade the standard of 
excellence, which should be perpetually before us; 
to rob life of its sanctity, and reduce this world 
in our esteem to a mere nursery or school-house, 
a work-shop, or an inn on the way-side to the in- 
visible portion of our eternal life. Let this be to 
us divine and beautiful, a world of God ; to all of 
us, the beginning and an important portion of eter- 
liity ; a world in which it is a high, and sublime, and 



124 



LAW OF RETRIBUTION. 



solemn thing to live; assured that now and always, 
here and everywhere, in the world visible and the 
world invisible, God is no respecter of persons, but 
his judgment is righteous judgment, and he renders 
to every man according to his deeds. 



DISCOURSE IX. 



FALLACIOUS REASONING.— JESUS AS JUDGE OF THE 
WORLD. 

There is much fallacious reasoning among men 
on almost every topic. As parties, sects, and indi- 
viduals, we have each some point or posture to de- 
fend, and any process of reasoning which supports 
or gives countenance to our cherished cause, we 
eagerly accept without strictest scrutiny. With 
many, time is so engrossed by ordinary pursuits, 
by business life, that plausibility is readily mistaken 
for proof, especially on metaphysical or religious 
questions. 

The acutest perceptions are obtuse enough, and 
the widest range of actual thought is incompre- 
hensive enough, in any given instance, to expose 
man to the danger of fallacious reasoning. Yet it 
becomes us to subject to the severest ordeal every 
proposition involving an article of religious faith. 
For though it is possible to hold a doctrine firmly, 
as an article of mere belief, exerting the least con- 
ceivable influence on our character, still every doc- 
trine concerning the nature, character, and purposes 
11* 



126 



FALLACIOUS REASONING. 



of God, every doctrine concerning the nature, ca- 
pacities, and destiny of man, every doctrine con- 
cerning the nature, character, and offices of Jesus, 
will have its practical effect, in some measure, in the 
formation of individual character, in coloring the 
thoughts and influencing the actions. And this is 
all that gives importance to particular doctrines, and 
theories, and religious speculations. 

If the rules of practical life were all so distinct and 
manifest, — if the principles which should govern 
human action in all the social relations were so 
obvious as to be recognized and adopted by all, in- 
dependent of all conflicting systems and doctrines, 
of religions or of churches, — then it would matter 
little how perfect or imperfect were a man's reason- 
ings on theology. Were universal rules and prin- 
ciples invariably embraced for the transaction of 
daily business, and the enjoyment of social inter- 
course between man and man, it would matter little 
what sectarian denomination one man or another 
man might bear. Were creeds all merely things 
to be read in books, to be thought of and talked of, 
and speculated over in leisure hours, and not in any 
way affecting the attitude of one person towards 
another in the common affairs of every day, it would 
be a concern of small consequence what creed one 
man or another kept in his book, or what title he 
should give that book, or what theologian he should 
regard as its legitimate expounder. Were the im- 
pulses of the heart, were the affections, so naturally 
and universally developed among men, that the 
same words would at all times be pronounced true 
and worthy and beautiful, and their opposites at all 



FALLACIOUS REASONING. 



127 



times untrue, unworthy, and repulsive, and the same 
actions universally pronounced unkind, unmanly, and 
unjust, and their opposites at all times generous, hu- 
mane, and just, it would then be of little moment 
where one man or another should spend two hours 
of every Sunday, or what should be the ritual of his 
church, or the theology or the philosophy or meta- 
physics of his ministers. 

But unhappily for the general good, as well as 
for individual comfort, this is not the common rela- 
tion of theory and practice, of doctrine and of action. 
There are, indeed, exceptions. There are many in- 
stances where theoretical believers in a scheme of 
doctrine, and scrupulous observers — not hypocriti- 
cally, but sincerely, honestly, scrupulous observers — 
of external religion, and Sunday ceremonies, and 
church enterprises, never permit their sentiments of 
respect, or their feelings of attachment to friends or 
acquaintances, to be changed or modified, or in any 
measure influenced, by the fact that those friends or 
acquaintances entertain different religious views, or 
attend some other form of worship, or express no 
particular views and encourage no particular sect. 
But where such relations exist between a rigid ad- 
herent of one sect and a rigid adherent of another, 
or between a scrupulous religionist and an unsec- 
tarian, a liberal man, there is implied a general ob- 
servation of the world, a large experience of life, or, 
over and above religious training, a clear, acute, 
practical, and philosophic mind. Either the heart 
overrules the head, the intellect being in subjection 
to the affections, or both mind and heart exercising 
their proper influence over all the departments and 



128 



FALLACIOUS REASONING. 



concerns of human life, they are at the same time 
indifferent and uninquiring as to all religious specu- 
lations, taking their theology on trust, incurious, 
unquestioning faith according to the training of 
early life, or to the first religious associations into 
which they have been thrown. In hundreds of in- 
stances, in our day, as every observer must per- 
ceive, this is the actual position of church-members. 
Still, this is far from being universally descriptive of 
sectarians. Were the ties of early association the 
only ties which bind men to exclusive churches, 
there would be ground for a more speedy reconcile- 
ment of profession and of practice, and generous 
action would become the fruit of active, generous 
principle. But the theologic lines continue to be 
drawn round little circles, by those who, instead of 
compassionating and seeking out and warmly en- 
treating others, who by their neighbors' creed are 
consigned to untold woe, as the enemies of God, 
actually pass them by with coldness, if not with 
scorn. This is the fruit of holding a system of doc- 
trines as essential to the Divine favor; and though 
much is usually said, by those who thus constitute 
themselves the favorites of God, of a certain inde- 
finable faith, and much to the depreciation of human 
reason, yet in every such instance it will probably 
be found, on close inquiry, that the indefinable faith 
which proves itself by such unamiable, unsocial, and 
unbrotherly works, is invariably founded on, or sup- 
ported by, fallacious reasoning, together with forced 
and partial interpretation of certain passages or 
words of Scripture. So obvious is this, generally, 
that, as evil communications corrupt good manners, 



FALLACIOUS REASONING. 



129 



even the earnest and active liberal Christian is some- 
times betrayed into a similar scornful and unfra- 
ternal sentiment toward his self-satisfied exclusive 
brother. And as the Baptist says to the Methodist, 
Stand off, I am holier than thou, — as the Methodist 
says to the Episcopalian, and the Episcopalian says 
to the Presbyterian, and the Presbyterian says to the 
Roman Catholic, Stand off', I am holier than thou, 
— so even the liberal Christian, in a sort of indigna- 
tion, is perhaps betrayed into the expression of a 
similar unworthy sentiment, exclaiming, like the 
haughty Pharisee, " Thank God, I am not as other 
men, not even as these foolish sectarians." And 
thus he falls, too, into the inconsistency of retorting 
in coldness and scorn, as if he were the favorite of 
Heaven, in view of his superiority to sectarian tram- 
mels, his more extensive knowledge, and liberality of 
faith. This, I apprehend, is no very remarkable pic- 
ture of liberal Christians, and it should cause us to 
beware of that perilous and unlovely point at which 
extremes often meet. 

As already said, wherever any doctrine derived 
from interpretations of Scripture language is main- 
tained as absolutely essential to the favor of God 
and the ultimate welfare of man, narrowness, self- 
righteousness, and exclusiveness, if not unkindness 
and violence, under the pretext of pious zeal, are the 
legitimate results. 

But my purpose at this moment is to consider 
briefly at least one instance of fallacious reasoning, 
in support of what is termed an essential doctrine ; 
I mean the argument for the Supreme Deity of Je- 
sus, founded on his appointment as Judge of man- 



130 



FALLACIOUS REASONING. 



kind. As a theory, it matters little whether Jesus be 
regarded as God or the reverse ; and I do not propose 
to discuss the question now, which I have frequently 
discussed at length, whether the Scriptures teach 
that Jesus was God, or whether they teach the op- 
posite of this. But as those who maintain essential 
articles of belief search diligently for reasons, and 
offer reasons and interpretations in their support, 
these reasons invite, and are entitled to, the most 
rigid examination. Here is the argument commonly 
offered : Jesus is the Judge of the world ; in order to 
judge the world, Jesus must be omniscient; therefore 
Jesus must be the Supreme God. Let us analyze 
the logic of this argument. In order to be judge 
of earth and of mankind it is necessary that Jesus 
should be omniscient. What is it to be omniscient ? 
To be omniscient literally signifies to have an un- 
derived and absolute knowledge of all things, objects, 
beings, thoughts, words, and actions, past, present, 
and future, perpetual and eternal. What is this 
world? Does it embrace the centre and circumference 
of creation ? Is this the only abode of intelligent 
beings ? All earth is no more than an atom float- 
ing in the immeasurable space, only a grain of sand 
on the shore of the boundless and invisible. To 
man himself, who by aerial conveyance may rise 
some distance in the atmosphere, earth diminishes, 
at the distance of only a few miles, into the merest 
point; all the sounds of land and ocean leave the 
stillness of the upper air unbroken, and we, bustling 
mighty lords, with all our most immense perform- 
ances, become less than the ants in the little mounds 
which we may crush beneath our feet. We know 



FALLACIOUS REASONING. 



131 



our sphere to be but a smaller sphere in a single 
system, which is itself, as the telescope reveals, but 
one of myriads of systems of the inconceivable, the 
infinite universe. Nothing could be more presump- 
tuous than the fancy that this atom of a globe is 
the only habitable or inhabited portion of the ma- 
terial, the illimitable universe. As the microscope 
reveals it to our astonished sense, the globule is an 
ocean, and the mote a world of countless animated 
beings. We cannot, therefore, for a moment enter- 
tain the thought, that the innumerable majestic 
spheres, of which in the starry skies we catch some 
feeble glimpse, are mere passive balls of dead mat- 
ter, sparkling through space. But as the distance 
from the molecule to the man is marked by succes- 
sive series of existences, so may we reasonably sup- 
pose that rank upon rank of various intelligences 
have their abode on the innumerable vast spheres 
which science has brought within the range of even 
our confined knowledge. 

To suppose, then, a knowledge of all the beings 
and things, and of all the thoughts and actions, of 
all on or in this earth, in all time past and time to 
come, is to suppose a knowledge as far short of ab- 
solute omniscience, as we can possibly conceive of 
distance of the finite from the infinite. Jesus, there- 
fore, might have conferred on him knowledge suf- 
ficient to qualify him for present, or perpetual, or 
eternal Judge of earth, and, besides earth, of a thou- 
sand other spheres of an hundred times the magni- 
tude of earth, and still remain at the greatest con- 
ceivable distance both in nature and attributes from 
the Supreme God. The fallacy is obvious. Power 



132 



FALLACIOUS REASONING. 



or capacity to judge the earth or all mankind does 
not, of necessity, imply omniscience, nor scarce a 
conceivable approach to omniscience. Jesus might 
even be supposed to be personally present in not 
only fifty places on our globe, but also in fifty other 
and greater worlds beside, and still this would not by 
any means imply absolute omnipresence ; for there 
might be millions of worlds remaining, of which he 
would have not even the remotest knowledge. 

Admitting Jesus, therefore, to be judge of all man- 
kind, to infer thence that he must be the Supreme 
God is most inconclusive, illogical, fallacious rea- 
soning. This obvious fallacy extends itself into the 
interpretation of Scripture, leading to the plainest 
disregard of the most explicit language. 

There is but a single passage which refers fully 
and distinctly to this point, and an examination, a 
bare perusal, of the passage causes amazement, at 
the facility with which the theorist can close his eyes 
upon the most unambiguous terms, which are not 
only at variance with his dogma, but as clearly op- 
posed to it as if written expressly for its refutation. 
Here is the passage (Acts xvii. 31) : " He (God) hath 
appointed a day, in which he will judge the world 
in righteousness, by that man whom he hath or- 
dained." Here it is not only not declared to be 
necessary to be God in order to judge the world, 
but it is expressly affirmed, that Jesus is simply the 
ordained agent or minister of God in judging the 
world ; and even admitting the theory which is now 
maintained of two natures in Jesus, God and man, 
in one person, then it is not even the God or di- 
vine nature which is the ordained judge, but the 



FALLACIOUS REASONING. 



133 



human nature, the man, — that man who, as St. Luke 
states, increased in stature, and in knowledge, and in 
favor, — that man who rejoiced and wept, who hun- 
gered and slept, who suffered and died. God will 
judge the world by that man whom he hath ordained. 
So, by this unequivocal statement, even suppose Je- 
sus to have had two or any number of natures, sup- 
pose him to have been at the same time the supreme 
God, still, so far from omniscience, omnipresence, 
being necessary to constitute him judge of the world, 
it is affirmed in the plainest manner that the or- 
dained man is made the judge. 

Nothing but the strongest attachment to a previ- 
ously imbibed doctrine could induce religious men, 
in the face of this most distinct New Testament 
language, to persist in declaring it necessary that 
Jesus should be God, in order to be judge of this 
world. You know I have been accustomed to illus- 
trate the language of Scripture writers by similar or 
analogous language in use in our own day. Let me 
give you now an instance in point, of much stronger 
and less qualified terms in describing the influence 
of a modern jurist, or writer on international law, 
than any terms in the New Testament applied to 
Jesus as a judge. This illustration derives addi- 
tional consequence from the fact, that its author is 
a clergyman, who himself, with reference to Jesus, 
would employ this fallacious reasoning which we 
have just considered. In an oration on Human His- 
tory I find this passage : — 

" Go now with me to one of the Italian cities, and 
there you shall see, in his quiet retreat, a silent, 
thoughtful man, recording with a visible earnestness 
12 



134 



FALLACIOUS REASONING. 



something that deeply concerns the world. In the 
silence of his study he stretches forth the sceptre of 
law over all potentates and people, defines their 
rights, arranges their intercourse, gives them terms 
of war and terms of peace, which they may not dis- 
regard. In the days of battle, too, when kings and 
kingdoms are thundering in the shock of arms, this 
same Hugo Grotius shall be there in all the turmoil 
of passion and the smoke of ruin, as a presiding 
throne of law, commanding above the commanders, 
and, when the day is cast, prescribing to the victor 
the terms of mercy and justice, which not even 
his hatred of the foe, or the exultation of the hour, 

may dare to transcend On the sea and on the 

land, on all seas and all lands, he shall bear sway. 
This is the man to give law to all the nations of 
mankind in all future ages." 

Here, you perceive, a minister of the Gospel, 
without any conception of impropriety, without any 
thought of being misunderstood, affirms of a distin- 
guished jurist who lived several generations since, 
that he shall bear sway on all seas and all lands, 
that he shall give law to all the nations of mankind 
in all future ages. Now does not this imply omnis- 
cience ? and must not he who can thus bear sway 
over sea and land, and give law to all nations of 
mankind in all ages, — must not he be God ? Can 
any being less than the Supreme Deity perform such 
an office? Still more: he says, that "when kings 
and kingdoms are thundering in the shock of arms, 
this same Hugo Grotius shall be there, as a presid- 
ing throne of law, commanding above the command- 
ers, prescribing to the victor the terms of mercy and 



FALLACIOUS REASONING. 



135 



justice." Must not the great jurist be omnipresent, 
and therefore God, when in the midst of conflicts, 
ages after his death, he is still present, command- 
ing and prescribing terms ? 

These inquiries are needless. Your good judg- 
ment and common sense at once recognize the beau- 
ty, propriety, and truthfulness of the description of 
the moral power of the principles laid down by 
Hugo Grotius. And were the same faculties ration- 
ally exercised in construing the language of Scrip- 
ture, most of the obscurity and mysticism thrown 
around it would disappear at once and for ever. 
" Lo, I am with you always," said Jesus, u unto the 
end of the world " ; and this is true in precisely the 
same sense in which it is true of the Dutch lawgiv- 
er, who is present in all nations commanding and 
prescribing terms of justice. Jesus is present in the 
power of his principles, and in no instance more 
strikingly than this of the power of law. 

Hugo Grotius was a Christian ; he had all his life 
been drinking at the fountain of Christian truth, and 
his rules for the adjustment of difficulties, the govern- 
ment of nations, are only applications of Christian 
principles of justice and mercy; and thus it is in re- 
ality Jesus who is present, giving law, command- 
ing nations, and prescribing terms. Thus is Jesus, 
through the agency of others, present in every age ; 
and will be till the end of time. Not Jesus himself, 
but the truth which he expressed, — his word, as he 
terms it, — is the judge of men. These are the terms, 
as St. John records them (xii. 47, 48) : " If any man 
hear my words and believe not, / judge him not; for 
I came not to judge the world. He that rejecteth 



136 



FALLACIOUS REASONING. 



me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judg- 
eth him : the word that I have spoken, the same shall 
judge him." In the same conversation he says, 
" Now is the judgment of this world ; now shall the 
prince of this world be cast out " ; intimating clearly, 
that whensoever and wheresoever men hear and rec- 
ognize his teachings, those teachings, that doctrine, 
will be the judge ; approving or condemning the life 
and conduct. The enlightened conscience will judge 
the character, always approving righteousness and 
disapproving wrong. And by the phrase, " If any 
hear my words and believe not," he implies that those 
who do not hear his words are not judged by his 
words, but by their fidelity to their opportunities, 
their own consciences, as St. Paul observes, accusing 
or excusing them. Having not the Christian law, 
they may do by nature the things contained in the 
law, and are thereby a law to themselves. Those 
not born nor instructed in Christian countries, not 
hearing of Christian principles, are not Christians in 
name ; they do not live by Christian rules, their 
character is not formed on Christian principles, their 
conduct is not regulated by Christian precepts, and 
they are not judged as we are judged, but in strict 
justice, according to their works ; their moral condi- 
tion being determined by the improvement or misuse 
of their moral powers and their opportunities, neither 
the life, the teachings, nor the death of Jesus having 
any direct relation to them nor bearing on them, 
whether for evil or for good, except so far as Chris- 
tian principles are universal principles. 

The conception of one great day hundreds of cen- 
turies distant, when the water, air, and earth, and 



FALLACIOUS REASONING. 



137 



rocks and trees, shall be transformed into living hu- 
man bodies, to appear in one grand assembly to be 
judged and sentenced to ceaseless ecstasy or endless 
woe, raises again the question, "Where, in the vast 
interim of unknown centuries, are the unnumbered 
millions of human souls ? Do they sleep ? Are 
they annihilated ? Are they without a resurrection, 
without judgment, without sentence, — preserved 
through ages in some unlocated, undescribed and 
indescribable, temporary heaven and temporary hell ? 
These are inquiries not to be overlooked or slighted. 
That temporary existence, or non-existence, whatever 
it may be, is itself an eternity compared with the 
longest earthly life ; and it becomes those who hold 
to a distant day for the judgment of the whole uni- 
verse of human beings, to give some satisfactory 
and consistent account of the condition or abode of 
human souls, who are to exist, if they exist at all, 
unsentenced, unjudged, for hundreds and myriads of 
ages. These questions are never met, but are always 
avoided, as if ignorance were bliss, and it were folly 
to be wise. Theymust be fairly answered, or anoth- 
er more rational and consistent view must be taken 
of what the judgment is, and a corresponding inter- 
pretation given to the New Testament language. 

But my purpose at this time has been to afford 
you an instance of the fallacious reasoning so com- 
monly used in support of theological doctrines de- 
clared to be essential. 

You perceive how easily the acutest natural per- 
ceptions become blunted by attachment to an early 
learned and strongly inculcated system of theology. 
Minds thus biassed assume, as necessary, proposi- 
12* 



138 



FALLACIOUS REASONING. 



tions which are not only destitute of evidence, but 
which in themselves are illogical, and at war with 
all common sense and direct knowledge of mankind. 
Here you find it boldly affirmed that Jesus must be 
omniscient and be God in order to be the judge of 
earth ; while the fallacy of the argument is obvious 
on a moment's reflection, when you remember that 
this earth is but a speck in the great creation, and 
therefore that capacity to be judge of this, and an 
hundred other and superior worlds, would not neces- 
sarily imply omniscience, or proper Deity, for thou- 
sands of worlds might remain of which the judge of 
earth would have no personal knowledge. And this 
fallacious reasoning is practised by those who loudly 
declaim against all reason. 

Yet further, you discover that attachment to al- 
leged essential doctrines also leads to the most ob- 
vious disregard of the plainest statements of Scrip- 
ture, and a defiance of all just rules of interpretation. 
You have seen how, in this very instance, the only 
passage which fully and distinctly refers to the ap- 
pointment of Jesus as judge of earth, declares ex- 
pressly that he is appointed as the minister of God. 
" He hath appointed a day in which he will judge 
the world by that man whom he hath ordained." 
Yet in the very face of this unequivocal declaration, 
the victim of a creed inculcated from infancy will 
assert that the judge of earth, Jesus, must therefore 
be omniscient and be God. What I desire to im- 
press upon your minds is the perversion of Scripture 
and the fallacy in reasoning presented in the argu- 
ment which we are examining; for, even admitting 
that Jesus might be omniscient, and might be the Su- 



FALLACIOUS REASONING. 



139 



preme Deity, you perceive that no proof to this effect 
can be derived from the fact that he judges the in- 
habitants of earth ; while all that is revealed in the 
New Testament on this point is strong testimony 
against the popular presumption as to the nature of 
Jesus. You see, moreover, the confusion of thought 
which arises from the earnest defence of certain 
doctrines as essential to the favor of God ; a want 
of acuteness and comprehensiveness, in consequence 
of which men constantly speak of death and judg- 
ment, and entrance upon eternal existence, as si- 
multaneous events, and at the same time will con- 
demn you as heretical and unregenerated, should 
you fail to believe that the only resurrection and 
judgment are events not to occur at death, but 
hundreds, millions, or myriads of years hereafter, 
they being unable to furnish you a single clear or 
reasonable idea of the condition of existence, or non- 
existence, of human souls during this vast interval 
of time. 

As we remarked in the opening of this discourse, 
it is not a subject of grateful reflection, that so many 
men hold religious doctrines as they hold articles of 
ornamental furniture, to be believed in, to be looked 
at, but never to be used; — their character being 
formed not by their theological faith, but in despite 
of that faith ; their conduct in the relations of life 
being determined by observation and common sense, 
while their creed is held in a book, to be used on 
Sundays, and then only to be regarded in an indis- 
criminating faith, as one regards or believes in a 
volume written in a lansfua^e which he does not 
understand. Truth, a love of truth, enthroned as 



140 



FALLACIOUS REASONING. 



sovereign over our noblest passions, — without this 
we must ever remain bondmen to unfounded preju- 
dices and indefensible doctrines. A love of truth 
supreme over all our affections, — to the divine 
sovereignty of which we can yield the fondest illu- 
sion of our intellectual life, — a love of truth which 
will melt our obstinacy into the surrender of the 
most finely cherished sentiment, and inspire us with 
a manly courage to walk fearlessly in accordance 
with her high behests, — without this it is in vain that 
we attempt to appropriate the priceless possession 
of a peaceful mind, — an unshaken soul, on whose 
brow sits the serene image of divinity, as it moves 
joyfully on through all the vicissitudes, commotions, 
and convulsions of the world. 



DISCOURSE X. 



TERMS AND PHRASES. — UNIVERSAL SALVATION. — 
UNIVERSAL RESTORATION. — REWARDS AND PUN- 
ISHMENTS. 

CHARGING THEM, THAT THEY STRIVE NOT ABOUT WORDS 

to NO profit. — 2 Tim. ii. 14. 

Many of the controversies which now vex the 
world, many of the sorrowful dissensions among 
theologians especially, might be easily obviated by 
a careful examination and a simple and natural 
definition of the terms employed in the propositions 
which are the subjects of division or dispute. It not 
unfrequently occurs, after a protracted and warm 
discussion, that the disputants by the merest acci- 
dent make the mutual discovery, that a previous ex- 
planation of' the words of the proposition which has 
been the subject of difference, would have obviated 
the need of most, if not all, of their discussion. 
Their real difference has been a misunderstanding, 
which a verbal definition would have satisfactorily 
explained. They have been using the same words 
in a different sense, or each has been ascribing to the 



142 



TERMS AND PHRASES. 



other an understanding of terms very far from the 
correct one ; both, as they find on verbal definition, 
understanding the same terms in precisely the same 
sense. 

It is of the highest importance, therefore, to exam- 
ine and explain at the outset the terms or words of 
a proposition, that all misunderstanding may be 
avoided. Many of the fiercest quarrels have origi- 
nated in mutual misapprehension, when the slightest 
preliminary inquiry would have made all clear and 
comprehensible, averting the direst calamities, and 
preserving peace, concord, and happiness. Let us 
illustrate by the consideration of some instances. 

Universal Salvation, Universal Restoration, Future 
Rewards and Punishments, — these are phrases in- 
volving ideas of the most general interest. The 
words themselves are only signs of ideas ; let us see 
what ideas they are understood to signify. 

Do you believe in universal salvation ? is a ques- 
tion very easily propounded; but it is not so easily 
answered, without a mutual understanding of what 
salvation signifies. In popular theological usage, 
salvation unquestionably is meant to signify a rescue 
or deliverance from an infinite misery after death, a 
condition to which, it is supposed, all are condemned 
by nature. The myriads who entertain this view 
plainly understand by universal salvation a univer- 
sal deliverance from a universal misery after death, 
to which mankind are naturally condemned; whilst 
one who professes a faith in universal salvation may 
mean this, or may mean some very different thing, 
by salvation. The term salvation may mean de- 
liverance from hell or suffering, in another world ; 



TERMS AND PHRASES. 



143 



or it may mean deliverance from the effects in anoth- 
er world of sin in this world, or from the effects in 
this world of sin in this world ; or it may mean de- 
liverance from the habit of sin itself. 

Now, in no one of these senses can universal sal- 
vation be understood as literally true. It cannot 
mean universal deliverance from hell and suffering 
in another life, for it never can be shown that uni- 
versal man, that all human beings, were ever cursed 
or doomed to, or in danger of, eternal hell and suffer- 
ing after death. It cannot mean universal deliver- 
ance from the effects in another world of sin in this 
world, for a majority of human beings who enter 
this world never sin. Sin being the transgression of 
law, and transgression of law implying knowledge 
of law, probably a majority of mankind leave this 
mortal life in childhood, before any capacity of sin 
has been developed, before any voluntary act of 
moral agency has been performed ; consequently 
they never sinned, and they need no salvation, 
whether in this or any other life, from the effects of 
sin. It cannot mean universal deliverance in this 
world from the effects of sin committed here, for we 
observe continually, and know from actual experi- 
ence, that there is no such thing as universal deliv- 
erance from the natural effects of voluntary wrong. 
What these legitimate effects are, we cannot always 
certainly determine ; but we see that there is not, there 
never has been, universal deliverance from them. 
It cannot mean universal deliverance from the habit 
of sin itself, for we see that, up to this hour, nearly 
all — perhaps all — mankind who reach the age of re- 
sponsible action do actually commit more or less of 



144 



TERMS AND PHRASES. 



sin. Thus we discover, on close examination, that 
the phrase universal salvation is destitute of any 
definite and satisfactory meaning. For if salvation 
signify deliverance from actual evil, suffering, or dan- 
ger, there can be no real meaning in universal sal- 
vation, unless it can be shown that there has actu- 
ally been a universal suffering or curse from which 
there has actually been a universal deliverance. 
Neither Scripture, nature, nor human experience has 
yet demonstrated any such universal evil, suffering, 
or curse, requiring any such universal deliverance. 
To the interrogatory propounded, therefore, I should 
be forced to reply : I am no believer in universal 
salvation, nor am I a disbeliever. For the phrase 
itself conveys to my mind no distinct idea ; it ap- 
pears to be simply a misuse or misapplication of 
words, frequently confusing the minds of those who 
suppose it to express their belief, and equally mis- 
leading those who suppose themselves to be contend- 
ing against that belief. 

The next phrase, universal restoration, is this 
more clear and comprehensible than the other ? To 
restore signifies to recover or replace something 
which has been removed or lost, to reinstate some- 
thing, or some person, in a condition which has be- 
fore belonged to the same thing or person. Univer- 
sal restoration is usually understood to signify the 
universal reinstatement of mankind in a condition 
of holiness and happiness. When were all mankind 
removed from a condition of holiness and happiness? 
When did all mankind ever fall from or lose such a 
condition ? When were all mankind ever in pos- 
session of such a condition? Here we observe the 



TERMS AND PHRASES. 



145 



misapplication of two additional terms, the words 
holiness and happiness. Both these words express 
intelligence, consciousness, and action ; they both 
imply personal moral agency. Holiness expresses a 
conscious condition of goodness, or piety, or moral 
purity. Happiness also expresses intelligent enjoy- 
ment, a knowledge or experience of bliss, of felicity. 
Millions, therefore, of the human race, who leave 
this world in infancy, have never been conscious of 
either holiness or happiness, as they never have of 
the opposite conditions of guiltiness or misery. A 
condition then which they never enjoyed, they never 
could fall from, — they never could lose ; and there 
is neither reason nor propriety in the idea of their 
being restored to a condition which they never pos- 
sessed. Whatever may be the idea conveyed to the 
minds of those who employ these phrases, universal 
salvation and universal restoration, to express what 
they regard as their religious faith, others, who 
object to the doctrines thought to be conveyed by 
these terms, without much question, associate the 
phrases with the idea of a primitive fall of mankind 
through Adam, accompanied with a universal curse, 
or sentence of condemnation. Both the phrases 
universal salvation and universal restoration are 
understood by theologians, and the generality of 
nominal Christians, to express deliverance of man- 
kind from that original curse, or final restoration to 
the primitive condition, or what is supposed to have 
been the primitive condition, of innocence, holiness, 
and happiness, belonging to the man Adam. 

But the term salvation never has such a reference 
in Scripture, and the phrase universal salvation can 
13 



146 



TERMS AND PHRASES. 



with no propriety be so understood, till it can be 
clearly and conclusively proved, that all mankind 
had both physical and moral connection with the 
man Adam, that such a universal curse was actually 
pronounced, and that a corresponding deliverance 
from that curse has been, or will be, finally effected. 
Such a physical and moral connection with the man 
Adam is not asserted by Scripture, it is unsupport- 
ed by reason, and is refuted by the general experi- 
ence of the world. Neither Scripture nor science 
proves that all men are descended from the man 
Adam, or any other one man. Neither revela- 
tion, reason, nor all the history of human kind, 
favors or warrants the idea of any such original 
curse pronounced upon the unborn world of man. 
Examine the Scriptural account in Genesis, and 
you will find that no covenant was ever made 
between God and Adam, nor between any other 
persons ; that there was no curse pronounced upon 
Adam. There was a curse pronounced on the ground, 
and that is all which is represented as passing be- 
tween Adam and God ; there is not the remotest 
allusion to posterity, one way or the other. Were 
there, at all events, a possibility of transfer or impu- 
tation of sin, guilt, or curse from one person to 
another, there would at least be some appearance 
of justice in causing the parent to endure the pen- 
alty of his children's misdeeds, because he exposed 
them to the dangerous influence of his pernicious 
example. But the common theology reverses the 
whole order of this apparent justice, and unreason- 
ably causes the unborn child to be guilty, cursed, 
and condemned to ceaseless woe, for the wicked act 



TERMS AND PHRASES. 



147 



of his parent or ancestor, ages before the child's ex- 
istence. 

The condition of the man Adam previous to any 
sinful act may be perhaps described by the terms 
holy and happy, because he was a mature, free, in- 
telligent, moral being. But these terms cannot de- 
scribe the condition of the thousands of human beings 
who through countless ages have daily departed from 
this life, in infancy and childhood, before they were 
conscious of any action good or bad, — before they 
could possibly be in a condition of either holiness or 
happiness, guiltiness or misery. They entered upon 
life, and they passed from mortal being, with no 
moral character whatever, but simply in a state of 
innocence ; they were neither righteous nor unright- 
eous, for they were not responsible. And this is all 
that can be said of them. Their whole moral and 
spiritual nature was undeveloped here, and to be 
developed in the state into which they passed 
through death. 

All mankind, then, are not to be finally saved 
from the wrath of God and eternal woe, because it 
cannot be shown that all mankind were ever sub- 
jected to any such terrible calamity. All mankind 
are not to be finally saved hereafter, from the 
effects of sins committed here, for it is morally cer- 
tain that millions of human beings have lived and 
died who never did sin here. All mankind are not 
saved, now in the present life, from the effects of 
sins which they commit, and universal experience is 
the unquestionable proof. All mankind are not 
saved from sin itself, for all history to this hour bears 
witness, that nearly every human being who has 



148 



TERMS AND PHRASES. 



lived to years of responsible action has committed 
sin, though a period may come, and is devoutly to 
be desired, when many souls shall reach maturity 
and pass through life, of whom it may be said, as it 
is recorded of the great teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, 
that they were " in all points tempted, yet without 
sin." 

It is not improbable that both the phrases univer- 
sal salvation and universal restoration are most gen- 
erally misunderstood by those who oppose them, 
and as greatly misapplied in many instances by 
those who favor and employ them. What universal 
calamity is it, from which there is to be universal 
salvation ? What universal blessing has been lost, 
to which there is to be universal restoration ? By 
propounding these inquiries, and endeavoring to an- 
swer them, it is seen at once, that neither the one 
phrase nor the other conveys to the mind any dis- 
tinct and satisfactory idea, or they imply conditions 
of universal sin, and universal happiness, which are 
groundless, imaginary, and never have existed. 
Mankind cannot be saved from an evil to which 
they have never been exposed, nor restored to a hap- 
piness which they never have possessed. How much 
uncharitable and profitless discussion might be avoid- 
ed, by clearly defining the original terms of a propo- 
sition, so that the purport of each separate word 
might be distinctly understood ! 

Future rewards and punishments, — let us bestow 
a moment of consideration on this phrase. The term 
reward is manifestly used and understood to signify 
a requital, or equivalent, or mark of favor, hereafter 
to be given by God, in return for certain good ac- 



TERMS AND PHRASES. 



149 



tions of man in this present life. At the same time 
it is an essential doctrine of the popular theology, 
that man is fallen and lost, and can never possibly 
perform any meritorious action ; that future heaven 
is not a reward or equivalent for any good done by 
man, but a free, unmerited gift, to which no human 
being is or can be in any way entitled, but is be- 
stowed by the pure grace of God. Both of these 
views cannot be, and perhaps neither of them is, 
correct. 

The word reward is frequently used in Scripture, 
but it is never used to signify heaven or happiness 
in a future world, whether paid as an equivalent, or 
bestowed freely, without merit, as a gift. In ordi- 
nary speech the term reward is used to express both 
the idea of a payment and the idea of a gift. We 
describe a man as rewarded, who receives something 
as a requital or compensation for something which 
he does. Money, property, office, honor, or enjoy- 
ment, received in return for some service done, we 
call a reward, and we do so properly. Sometimes 
it is used to' signify a gift or present, bestowed as a 
mere mark of respect, and not as an equivalent for 
any service which has been performed, and without 
the expectation of anything to be given in return. 
In this sense the term reward is not used with strict 
propriety. The word itself, in its true sense, means 
something received in lieu of something given. 

Both these ideas of payment and of present ap- 
pear to be singularly blended and conveyed without 
discrimination by religionists, who use the word re- 
ward to signify heaven or happiness in a future life. 
Heaven is described as a place and condition of eter- 
13* 



150 



TERMS AND PHRASES. 



nal bliss, to be bestowed as a free gift from God ; 
and almost invariably it is described, in the same 
breath, as a reward hereafter which is sure to all 
who perform certain righteous actions. The unkind, 
uncharitable, and vicious man, through a long life of 
eighty years, complies with certain conditions an 
hour before his death, and he receives the heaven of 
eternal bliss as a reward. The virtuous, pure, and 
pious youth, through only a short life of twenty 
years, complies with certain prescribed conditions, 
and he receives the same heaven of endless joy as 
his reward. The little child, who never performs 
an act either virtuous or vicious, and who neither 
complies nor refuses to comply with any conditions, 
opens its eyes in wonder on this world, then moves 
away, through the door of death, into the same 
heaven of eternal happiness, as his reward. There 
is nothing but confusion in this use of the word re- 
ward with reference to the life beyond the grave. 
To use it in all these cases in the sense of a be- 
stowal, a free gift, unmerited, adds nothing to its 
distinctness, but leaves it as indefinite as ever. I do 
not hesitate to assert, that no satisfactory idea can 
be conveyed by the word reward, associated with 
heaven as an unchangeable and eternal condition 
after death. Such an idea of heaven and such a 
use of the word reward, either as a payment or a 
gift, are totally irreconcilable, in view of the differ- 
ent circumstances under which men die, and these 
terms leave the innumerable variations of this pres- 
ent life involved in impenetrable darkness. Still 
more, I do not hesitate to say, that until a clear 
and satisfactory idea can be expressed by the word 



TERMS AND PHRASES. 



151 



reward, it should never be employed to express the 
condition of enjoyment or existence in a future life. 

The word punishment is used with as much 
vagueness and obscurity as the word reward. Some- 
times it is used to signify an arbitrary infliction of 
pain or suffering, as a satisfaction for some wrong 
done. Sometimes it is used to mean arbitrary chas- 
tisement or discipline, not for the satisfaction of the 
person who inflicts the suffering, but for the correc- 
tion and warning of the person who endures the suf- 
fering. But in both cases it is usually understood 
as being arbitrary, without any invariable law, but 
at the mere pleasure of the one who inflicts the suf- 
fering. It may be much or little, for a long period 
or a short period, according to his pleasure at the 
moment ; whether inflicted vindictively for his own 
satisfaction, or only as a proper correction and warn- 
ing for the sufferer. 

In both these senses the word punishment is used 
by religionists with reference to the future life. By 
one, God is represented as consigning all the wicked 
of every degree, old and young, civilized and savage, 
to an eternal and unmitigated hell of misery, and 
this is called the expression of God's anger, his 
wrath, his vengeance, satisfaction for offending by 
the transgression of his holy law. By another, God 
is representee! as subjecting all the wicked, who die 
without penitence and reform, to a suffering for dis- 
cipline, for correction or preparation, after which they 
shall be transferred to the place and companionship 
of the virtuous and holy. To describe this condition 
as well as the other, the word punishment is used, 
implying that chastisement or correction is arbitrary 



152 



TERMS AND PHRASES. 



also, — much or little, long or short in its duration, 
according to the pleasure of God, — only that it will 
ultimately terminate, and then the soul be trans- 
ferred to the place of unbounded and everlasting fe- 
licity. The word punishment almost invariably con- 
veys to every mind the ideas of wrath, vindictiveness, 
ideas which never can with any propriety be asso- 
ciated with the attributes and character of the Su- 
preme Being. God is love, and infinite love ; and 
God is infinite and unchangeable in every perfection. 
Unless the word punishment can be used and always 
understood as dissociated entirely from every idea 
of wrath or vindictiveness, it never should be used 
to express the action of God, whether with reference 
to the condition of souls beyond the grave, or the 
condition of human beings in this present mortal 
life. 

After this examination of these several phrases, 
you will easily understand how one may say, with 
the greatest propriety, I am no believer in universal 
salvation, no believer in universal restoration, no be- 
liever in rewards or in punishments in a future life, 
nor in rewards and punishments in this present life. 
For as they are commonly used and commonly un- 
derstood in religious speech, in theological and pulpit 
phraseology, no one of these phrases conveys any 
reasonable, consistent, or satisfactory idea to the 
mind. 

Of the author of such a declaration you might 
inquire, What then do you believe? That you 
might weigh it carefully, and test its reasonableness, 
its consistency, and its reality, he might give you 
this plain reply : I believe that there is but one life 



TERMS AND PHRASES. 



153 



of the soul, which begins at the soul's beginning or 
its birth, and continues on for ever ; a life of freedom, 
of development, of retribution and progression, — 
death being but a single event in the soul's life, — an 
event which relieves it from the restraints, propensi- 
ties, and peculiarities of a fragile and decaying frame, 
— the moral character of the spirit being the same 
a moment after death which it was a moment before 
death, only that the soul finds itself in a new and 
larger sphere, ready to proceed in the unfolding of 
its spiritual life from the exact moral point at which 
it left this mortal existence. 

This one life of the soul is a life of retribution. 
There is no partiality, no favoritism ; there are no 
elect ones as the recipients of anything called sal- 
vation. God rules the whole material world by a 
uniform and established order. He also rules the 
whole moral world, the whole world of mind or 
spirit, by uniform and unvarying laws. The most 
enlightened man in the most enlightened Christian 
country, who through ignorance or wilfulness trans- 
gresses a natural or moral law, must and does ex- 
perience similar effects to those experienced by the 
Pagan or barbarian, on the opposite side of the 
globe, who transgresses the same natural or moral 
law. In both cases, if the transgression be one of 
ignorance, the natural effects must follow, but it is 
no sin. And in both cases, should the transgression 
be wilful, the effects must follow, and the transgres- 
sion is a sin. The difference in both cases between 
the transgression which is sin, and that which is 
not sin, is in the moral effects upon the mind or 
conscience. So that every human being each day 



154 



TERMS AND PHRASES. 



and hour, in the exercise of free will, forms its own 
moral character. Each action of every being reacts 
in some way and to some extent upon himself, for 
good or evil, and not only upon himself but on oth- 
ers, and this reaction is retribution. This is what I 
mean by a life of retribution. Each being at the 
event of death continues its existence and develop- 
ment, from the moral life which it had formed up to 
that moment for itself, and proceeds in the spiritual 
state, enjoying happiness according to its own moral 
capacities ; and this is what I mean by a life of pro- 
gression. 

Thus we discover the necessity of a clear idea of 
words. And the words salvation, restoration, re- 
wards and punishments^ should never be used, un- 
less they can be separated in the mind entirely from 
the ideas of wrath, vindictiveness, or any arbitrary 
action on the* part of God, whether favorable or un- 
favorable to man. 

God is no respecter of persons in this life, nor in 
any other. He appoints laws to regulate the whole 
of man's nature, and leaves man free to learn, un- 
derstand, and experience the effect of those divine 
and universal laws, to increase enjoyment or reduce 
his capacity for enjoyment in proportion as he obeys 
or disobeys them. 



DISCOURSE XI. 



THE BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS ; OR GOD 
AND THE DEVIL. 

THOU THOUGHTEST THAT I WAS ALTOGETHER SUCH AN ONE 

as thyself; but i will reprove thee. — Psalm 1. 21. 

Though there may be occasionally found among 
us a stranger who is a Mahometan or Pagan wor- 
shipper, and though numbers of Jewish worshippers 
are frequently found, yet our civilization is called 
Christian. We are said to live in Christian society. 
Most men directly encourage the external offices 
of religion, and nearly all pay more or less regard 
to religious observances. But among those who 
encourage the external offices of religion directly, 
many appear to regard only its externals. Their re- 
ligion appears to be unexpressed by any controlling 
principles regulating their general transactions ; it 
appears to be expressed by no uniform spirit pervad- 
ing their whole lives, manifest in their words, acts, 
and whole deportment, by characteristics correspond- 
ing with what are agreed by all to be the peculiar 
features of the religion to which they avow their 



156 BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS. 

adherence, — the Christian religion. This class of 
persons may be rarely absent from the churches on 
occasions of public worship, and they are prompt in 
meeting all obligations originating in the temporal 
or business concerns of the congregations with which 
they worship. Having done this, they appear to 
think their part performed. 

Why this immediate unprofitableness of religion, 
this practical unproductiveness of Christianity, is an 
inquiry at once just and pertinent. That in a very 
considerable degree it originates in prevailing mis- 
conceptions of the character of the Deity, will be 
obvious on a careful examination of facts. Whilst 
it is reasonable that the barbarous or unenlightened 
mind, untaught entirely with reference to God, 
should form a conception of the Deity compatible 
with its own character and condition, it is just as 
true that those who receive all their views of the 
Deity from the dogmatic systems and teachings of 
others, as an almost universal rule, accept the views 
of God in which they are instructed, their own con- 
duct taking its coloring and character from their 
conception of Deity. The man untaught concern- 
ing any Deity, but left to frame his own, frames a 
Deity corresponding with his own characteristics. 
The man instructed from the first in certain views 
of Deity is likely to frame his own character on 
principles corresponding with the character which 
he has learned to be that of God. 

Let us see, then, how far an observation of facts 
may exhibit this analogy between human conduct, 
human character, and the prevailing conception of 
the character of God. Inquire of Christian wor- 



BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS. 157 

shippers generally, whether or not the Deity is the most 
unresentful, unretaliating, forbearing, and beneficent 
of beings, and you will probably receive a univer- 
sal" affirmative reply. But notwithstanding this, the 
prevailing theological systems and confessions, the 
generality of books, sermons, and preaching in 
Christian society, represent God so as necessarily 
to imply that, while he is the most powerful and 
majestic, he is at the same time the most irritable, 
unforbearing, resentful, and vindictive being in the 
universe. The prevailing representations of the De- 
ity among Christians imply that he is imperfect 
and unfortunate, sorrowing, suffering, angry, and 
jealous, sometimes forbearing, sometimes petulant 
and inexorable, always fighting or contending, either 
with man, or angel, or devil, — in his conflicts with 
Satan, his arch-enemy, sometimes victorious and 
sometimes defeated, sometimes triumphing and 
sometimes mourning. 

I might here appeal to the personal knowledge of 
every one accustomed to the common representa- 
tions of Christian doctrine, in the weekly ministra- 
tions of the various churches. You hear the frequent 
allusions to God and to Satan, the two great oppos- 
ing beings, engaged in open and unceasing warfare, 
of which man is the poor, feeble, disabled, and un- 
happy subject. You hear of the devices to which 
Satan resorts, to retain every human being under his 
subjection ; and you hear of the councils held in 
heaven by persons of the Godhead, and the wonder- 
ful plan, the ingenious and never sufficiently to be 
applauded scheme, by which the Deity checks the 
triumphant career of his inveterate and mighty foe, 
14 



158 BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS. 

and accomplishes the rescue of a few of the unhap- 
py human victims of Satan's cunning, cruelty, and 
unmitigated enmity to God. 

But the theological literature of the age assumes 
a more permanent form, and is likely to be more 
general and lasting in its influence. I might cite 
articles and confessions and catechisms, but, passing 
by these for the time, I ask you to examine a few 
passages from the writings of one of the most dis- 
tinguished religious writers of the generation just 
passing from the stage of active life. I mean Dr. 
Chalmers, most of whose writings have been given 
to the world within the short time since his decease. 
He was, during his life, one of the most noted of the 
Calvinistic or Presbyterian ministers in England and 
Scotland, and his writings have been extensively cir- 
culated wherever the English language is vernacular. 

In the passages I am about to cite to you, several 
great doctrines of the system which he supported 
are assumed. You will perceive that he takes for 
granted the existence of an Almighty Deity, and of 
an only less than almighty demon. He takes for 
granted that man is the subject, and this earth is the 
theatre, of a great fight, an awful contest, which has 
been carried on for six thousand years or more, be- 
tween these two inveterate foes, God and the Devil. 
His purpose is then to exhibit the immense interests 
at stake, and the spirit and sentiments which con- 
tribute to render the warfare worthy of the two 
powerful combatants. 

In meeting the objections of the more or less scep- 
tical, who suggest that the earth, in comparison with 
the universe, is but an insignificant field, and that 



BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS. 159 

man, in comparison with the worlds and ranks of 
intelligences, is but an insignificant subject of a con- 
test so amazing, he illustrates the considerations 
which arise to give weight to the conflict as it pro- 
ceeds, by supposing a battle between two great na- 
tions. This illustration he closes in these notable 
words : — " But other principles are animating the 
battle, and the glory of nations is at stake, and a 
much higher result is in the contemplation of each 
party than the gain of so humble an acquirement as 
the primary objects of the war, and honor, dearer to 
many a bosom than existence, is now the interest 
on which so much blood and so much treasure is 
expended, and the stirring spirit of emulation has 
now got hold of the combatants ; and thus, amid all 
the insignificancy which attaches to the material 
origin of the contest, do both the eagerness and the 
extent of it receive from the constitution of our na- 
ture their most full and adequate explanation." 

He then applies the illustration of interests which 
become involved in a national contest, to the strug- 
gle between higher natures, or God and Satan. He 
does it in these notable terms : — 

" Now, if this be also the principle of higher 
natures; if, on the one hand, God be jealous of 
his honor, and on the other there be proud and 
exalted spirits, who scowl defiance at him and 
his monarchy; if, on the side of heaven, there 
be an angelic host rallying around the standard 
of loyalty, who flee with alacrity at the bidding 
of the Almighty, who are devoted to his glory, 
and feel a rejoicing interest in the evolution of 
his counsels ; and if, on the side of hell, there be a 



160 BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS. 

sullen front of resistance, a hate and malice inextin- 
guishable, an unequal daring of revenge to baffle the 
wisdom of the Eternal, and to arrest the hand and 
to defeat the purposes of Omnipotence, — then let 
the material prize of victory be insignificant as it 
may, it is the victory in itself which upholds the im- 
pulse of this keen and stimulated rivalry. 

" If, by the sagacity of one infernal mind, a single 
planet has been seduced from its allegiance and 
been brought under the ascendency of him who is 
called in Scripture 'the god of this world,' and if the 
errand on which our Redeemer came was to destroy 
the works of the Devil, then let this planet have all 
the littleness which astronomy has assigned to it, — 
call it what it is, one of the smaller islets which float 
on the ocean of vacancy, — it has become the theatre 
of such a competition as may have all the desires 
and all the energies of a divided universe embarked 
upon it. It involves in it other objects than the sin- 
gle recovery of our species. It decides higher ques- 
tions. It stands linked with the supremacy of God, 
and will at length demonstrate the way in which he 
inflicts chastisement and overthrow upon all his ene- 
mies. 

" I know not if our rebellious world be the only 
strong-hold which Satan is possessed of, or if it be 
but the single post of an extended warfare that is 
now going on between the powers of light and of 
darkness. But be it the one or the other, the parties 
are in array, and the spirit of the contest is in full 
energy and the honor of mighty combatants is at 
stake, and let us therefore cease to wonder that our 
humble residence has been made the theatre of so 



BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS. 161 

busy an operation, or that the ambition of loftier 
natures has here put forth all its desire and all its 
strenuousness." 

Presented in this way, and for the purpose for 
which I now cite it, this language no doubt appears 
strange and peculiar, as referring to the Christian 
Deity, and as exhibiting the nature of Christian reve- 
lation. But its apparent peculiarity is only in the 
manner in which it is now presented to your consid- 
eration, for language equivalent to this, and frequent- 
ly almost verbally the same, is common in pulpit dis- 
courses every Sunday. You hear man spoken of as 
the lost, sinful, ruined, and helpless victim of the 
Devil's artifice, at the time of his supposed conversa- 
tion with the wife of the man Adam, though not one 
human being had then, as far as we are informed, 
been born into the world. You hear God spoken of 
as being irritated and angry with the Devil for his 
cunning and cruel deception, and with the woman 
for being deceived by the Devil, and with man for 
being persuaded by the woman. Then you hear 
God spoken of as declaring war against this power- 
ful enemy, who is represented as one of God's former 
subjects, who rebelled against Divine authority, and 
was expelled from the Divine abode for his audacity, 
and who has ever since been filled with burning ha- 
tred against the Almighty and all that pertains to him. 

Chalmers here represents God as being moved by 
the passions which characterize the human duellist 
and soldier. He represents both God and his ene- 
my as losing sight of the original insignificant issue, 
and, by the impulse of a keen and stimulated rivalry, 
contending for victory itself. He says the contest 
14* 



162 BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS. 

has arrived at a stage where more than the single 
recovery of our species is at stake ; that it involves 
higher questions, because it is linked with the su- 
premacy of God, who is jealous of his honor, and is 
resolved not to be outdone by the sagacity of an in- 
fernal mind, who with other proud spirits scowl de- 
fiance at him and his monarchy, endeavoring to baffle 
the wisdom of the Eternal, and defeat the purposes 
of Omnipotence. 

But Chalmers does not stop at this. When he 
comes to expatiate upon the grand expedient, the 
blood of atonement, he indulges in this strain, so 
strikingly resembling the delineations of human bat- 
tles, military tactics, and grand generalships : — 

" It was only in that plan of recovery of which Jesus 
Christ was the author and the finisher, that the great 
adversary of our species met with a wisdom which 
overmatched him. It is true that he had reared, in 
the guilt to which he seduced us, a mighty obstacle 
in the way of this lofty undertaking. But when the 
grand expedient was announced, and the blood of 
that atonement by which sinners are brought nigh 
was willingly offered to be shed for us, and the Eter- 
nal Son, to carry this mystery into accomplishment, 
assumed our nature, then was the prince of that 
mighty rebellion, in which the fate and history of our 
world are so deeply implicated, in visible alarm for 
the safety of all his acquisitions : — nor can the rec- 
ord of this wondrous history carry forward its narra- 
tive, without furnishing some transient glimpses of 
a sublime and a superior warfare, in which, for the 
prize of a spiritual dominion over our species, we 
may dimly perceive the contest of loftiest talent, and 



BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS. 163 

all the designs of heaven in behalf of man, met at 
every point of their evolution by the counter-work- 
ings of a rival strength and a rival sagacity. 

" Surely, it is no more than being wise up to that 
which is written, to assert, that, in achieving the re- 
demption of our world, a warfare had to be accom- 
plished ; that upon this subject there was among the 
higher provinces of creation the keen and the ani- 
mated conflict of opposing interests ; that the result 
of it involved something grander and more affecting 
than even the fate of this world's population ; that 
it decided a question of rivalship between the right- 
eous and everlasting Monarch of universal being, and 
the prince of a great and widely extended rebellion." * 

This is the carrying out of that idea of which you 
hear so much in Christian theology from the various 
pulpits, — of a council, in which expedients were dis- 
cussed, and a plan devised to alarm and conquer, if 
possible, the prince of that mighty rebellion in which 
the fate of our world is so deeply implicated. Here 
the supreme Spirit and beneficent Father of the uni- 
verse is represented as inflamed by ambition to car- 
ry on a sublime and superior warfare for the prize 
of a spiritual dominion over our species, met as he 
is at every point by the counter-workings of a rival 
strength and a rival sagacity. This contest is repre- 
sented as a keen and animated conflict of opposing 
interests; yes, it becomes a personal quarrel be- 
tween the combatants, involving, as this writer's 
excited imagination declares, something grander and 
more affecting than even the fate of this world's 



* Sixth Astronomical Discourse, on Colossians ii. 15. 



164 BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS. 



population; for it decided a question of rivalship 
between the everlasting Monarch of universal being, 
and the prince of a great and widely extended rebel- 
lion. 

This is a Christian minister's description of the 
Christian's God; — a Deity moved by ambition, rival- 
ry, jealousy, and revenge ; a Deity characterized by 
every base and degrading and ignoble passion, which 
the principles of Christianity, as taught by Jesus, 
pronounce unjust, improper, and unnecessary, even 
in frail and erring humanity. And this, moreover, is 
no extreme and peculiar case ; the same description 
of the Deity, his actions and character, in terms more 
or less distinct, is given in thousands of churches 
from week to week. The whole doctrine of the sub- 
stituted suffering of Jesus, or vicarious atonement, as 
the systems term it, is predicated on the idea that 
Dr. Chalmers presents so vividly, — the presumption 
that God permitted himself to be by one of his own 
creatures entrapped into an almost inextricable dif- 
ficulty, — a difficulty so great, that, in order to relieve 
or justify himself, and to prevent his eternal purposes 
from being wholly defeated, it taxed the utmost in- 
genuity, or, as it is styled, the rival sagacity, of the 
Divine mind to devise a plan, which is so frequently 
admired as the scheme of salvation ; — a scheme for 
the discovery of which almost every prayer that is 
offered and every sermon that is preached by thou- 
sands of clergymen is replete with flattery, congrat- 
ulations, and compliments to the Almighty. 

A very common thing it is for ministers, in com- 
parison with the work of redemption, as it is styled, 
to depreciate the work of creation. To command 



BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS. 165 



into existence not only sun and moon and planets, 
but the system upon system of worlds which form 
the universe, and bid them roll in silent grandeur 
through the realms of space ; to create ranks of intel- 
ligent beings ; to form this mortal frame, so fearfully 
and wonderfully made ; to inspire these minds which 
surmount, subdue, and measure the objects and 
events of time, and look forward to an eternity of life 
beyond this sphere, — all this is considered a small 
affair, an unimportant work, compared with the 
amazing ingenuity which devised a scheme to wrest 
and save from the malicious arts of Satan a few 
human souls, a fraction of the number of human be- 
ings whom Satan has continued to deceive and 
tempt and steal away from the Creator, — from the 
Supreme Being to whom Satan himself, as it ap- 
pears, owes his existence. Thus do expounders of 
the Christian faith compliment the skill of God, and 
measure the relative importance of his acts and pur- 
poses. But this contest between Deity and demon, 
Creator and creature, has not yet terminated, as it 
seems. That plan by which God, under the appear- 
ance of a man, i. e. the Christ, contended with and 
vexed and circumvented Satan, was imperfect, and 
the warfare still continues. Here let me cite the de- 
liberate expression of a noted Calvinistic minister of 
our own day, Dr. Edward Beecher of Boston, who 
describes God as a mighty warrior, and declares that 
the great end of God is to fight and conquer and 
destroy. 

" According to the Bible, the system of this world 
is an exception to all that precedes it and all that 
follows it. It is the great, singular, anomalous dis- 



166 BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS. 



pensation of the universe. Time was when sin did 
not exist. Time will be when its power will be 
subdued. All between is one great moral conflict, 
and thrice blessed is he who in this conflict shall 
overcome. The human race is a peculiar race. Of 
their own kind they had no predecessors, they have 
no contemporaries in other worlds, they will have no 
successors (the confident assertions of Swedenborg 
to the contrary notwithstanding). The whole sys- 
tem implies the contrary. The great end of God 
now is not education and development according to 
fixed and eternal laws, but war and conquest. The 
incarnate God is not chiefly an educator, but a war- 
rior. There is a God, a king, and a kingdom to be 
destroyed, and he is the great destroyer. For this 
end, he reigns and wields universal power. For this 
end, angels and principalities and powers are subject- 
ed unto him. And he will reign till all enemies are 
put beneath his feet : then cometh the end. Then a 
new and immutable system of the universe shall 
take the place of that which now is, and shall en- 
dure for evermore." * 

Here, in order to maintain his theory of God as a 
warrior and unrelenting enemy of the great spirit of 
evil, he assumes what science will not warrant, and 
what is without foundation in Scripture; namely, 
that this world is an exception to all that precedes 
and all that follows it. Indeed, he alleges that noth- 
ing can follow it. He assumes that the human race 
is a peculiar race, that they had no predecessors, that 



* Article on " The Incarnation," in the Biblical [Repository and 
Classical Keview for January, 1850. 



BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS. 167 

they have no contemporaries in other worlds, and 
that they will have no successors. This is an extent 
of knowledge which never before has been ascer- 
tained or positively asserted, as far as I have ever 
known ; and you will observe that Beecher directly 
conflicts with Chalmers, who regards other worlds 
and other species as having interests at stake in 
this magnificent battle between God and Devil. 

There is one singular inconsistency prominent in 
this. In saying that time was when sin did not ex- 
ist, and time will be when the power of sin shall be 
subdued, and that all between these times is one 
great moral conflict, and thrice blessed is he who 
in this conflict shall overcome, he implies that 
man is himself engaged in this warfare, and that his 
being blessed depends upon his proving victor. At 
the same time, the chief purpose of the writer is to 
demonstrate that the great end of God's exertions is 
to fight and conquer his arch-enemy, Satan, and to 
destroy his kingdom, man being entirely silent and 
inactive. To this end, he says, God reigns and 
wields universal power. 

There is another remarkable difficulty. God 
wields universal power, yet so nearly equal in 
power is the great enemy and rebel against heaven, 
that it is as much as the Deity can do to keep his 
crown and throne, the " forces " and cunning and 
" rival sagacity " of heaven and hell being so nearly 
equal. There seems to be less disparity between 
the power of the two combatants than between 
any two warriors of earth ; for the warfare has been 
waged for six thousand years, and to all appearance 
has thousands of years to continue before the issue 



168 BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS. 

can be seen, and even then, by this same theory, it 
could scarcely be determined in favor of God, since 
his enemy is to carry away into his dominions for 
ever far the greater number of captives. Man is rep- 
resented as the weak, passive, and helpless subject 
of the contest between the two great powers, and 
yet his blessedness is to depend on his coming off 
conqueror over an antagonist whom the Almighty 
himself, as it appears from the theory, is to leave in 
possession of a power so great that the larger num- 
ber of those concerning whom the war was declared 
are to be subject to his fiendish malice and cruelty 
eternally, God having retired more than half defeated 
from the contest. 

Nowhere, except in the history of the passions and 
disputes of pagan deities by Homer and Virgil, — no- 
where else could a parallel be found to these views 
by Christian ministers of the Christian Deity. And 
what must be the effect of such representations ? 
While God himself, the first and best of beings, is a 
warrior, jealous of his honor, at ceaseless enmity 
with his powerful antagonist, is it reasonable to ex- 
pect man to see aught objectionable in the human 
battle-field, or to regard the passions of jealousy and 
enmity as wrong ? 

Whilst Christians are taught that the supreme 
God is moved by low ambition to conquer a wicked 
and fearful enemy, whilst the very existence of God 
appears as a contest to decide a question of rivalship 
between him and another being, and that one of his 
own creatures, how can Christians be expected to 
mean anything by peace and forbearance and love, 
but warfare and retaliation and undying hatred ? 



BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS. 169 

Here Jesus himself loses his character of a bearer of 
glad tidings from the Eternal Father to his erring, 
toiling, hoping, and aspiring children. Jesus, the di- 
vine messenger, by this theory dwindles away into 
an emissary or agent of an omnipotent warrior, or 
even worse, the omnipotent warrior himself, dis- 
guised as a sort of spy, that by some stratagem he 
may defeat the plans of his vigilant arch-enemy. 
Are mere mortal beings expected to be superior to 
the God whom they adore ? How can Christian 
ministers thus representing the Creator expect the 
people who rely on them for religious instruction to 
regard forbearance or charity as a virtue, or to culti- 
vate the arts of peace as blessings, whilst the high- 
est virtue in God himself is resentment, and the 
great object of his existence is war and conquest? 

Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect, 
is the injunction of Jesus ; and this, if it mean any- 
thing in consistency with the common representa- 
tions of God and the Devil, means, Be the most per- 
fect warriors, and foster the most unrelenting enmity 
toward every one that may oppose you ; for if the 
Creator himself is always engaged in a hateful and 
jealous conflict, with a being of his own creation, 
surely we feeble creatures are expected to gratify our 
sordid passions, and cease to retaliate only with the 
extermination of each other. Read the history of 
Christian lands ; visit the thousand battle-fields en- 
riched by the blood of Christians who have destroyed 
each other ; see the altars and the walls of Christian 
churches crimsoned with the current from murdered 
Christian hearts ; see the red hands of Christian 
priests and people, Roman Catholic and Protestant, 
15 



170 



BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS. 



from the time of Constantine to this time of Pius the 
Ninth, opening the Gospel to read of peace with 
stained swords hanging at their sides, — and how 
and when can we expect the nominal disciples of 
Jesus to beat their swords into ploughshares and their 
spears into pruning-hooks, and learn war no more ? 
When shall there be peace on earth and good-will 
among men, if God himself is unable even to con- 
quer a peace from his fiendish adversary ? 

God must reign supreme in the world's heart, not 
sharing sovereignty with an omnipresent being who 
is his sworn and eternal foe. God must be received 
as a Father, infinite in power and goodness and love, 
before each man shall see in each his brother, and by 
gentle deeds and pure and holy speech shall ear- 
nestly labor to make the kingdoms of this world 
truly the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. 

By examination, we have found that the prevailing 
view of the relation subsisting between God and the 
Devil implies that the Deity is as imperfect in some 
respects as he is perfect in others ; that he is moved 
by rivalry, jealousy, hatred, and revenge, and never 
ceases his bitter hostility to one whom he regards as 
his uncompromising enemy. We find that it is im- 
plied in the common theory of Christianity, that the 
Devil is a being who is wholly wicked, without any 
redeeming quality ; that while in some respects in- 
ferior, he is in some all-important particulars supe- 
rior to God, inasmuch as he first opposed and de- 
ceived God; that he so far prevents God from re- 
covering what he had lost, that he defies God, and is 
still waging war with him, and that finally he is to 
triumph by defeating the benevolence of God toward 



BATTLE OF THE INVISIBLE POWERS 



171 



his creatures, the vast majority of God's creatures 
becoming the irrecoverable captives of God's invet- 
erate enemy. And we have seen that, by this same 
common theory of religion, man is esteemed a mere 
football, tossed to and fro between these two mighty 
antagonists ; that we are wretched, helpless, de- 
praved, and wicked worms of the dust, so trifling that, 
as Chalmers says, the two almighty warriors lose 
sight of us in their terrific contest, which merges into 
a fight for the honor alone, the supremacy, of the 
two parties. And so all this representation in Scrip- 
ture, of man as akin to angels ; as a being crowned 
with glory and honor, the image of God, the lord of 
creation, an heir of God and joint heir with Jesus ; 
as a being with powers so exalted that he may raise 
himself to a heaven of progress and felicity, or sink 
himself to a hell of remorse and fear, — all this, on 
this view of religion, becomes mere mockery, tanta- 
lizing us with dreams and fancies never to be real- 
ized, and " this world is all a fleeting show, for man's 
illusion given." All enlightened conscience, enlight- 
ened reason, and human experience unite in pro- 
nouncing these views of God, of man, of Christian- 
ity, and of the world, unjust, unworthy, and untrue. 

A question remains to be answered. These words, 
Satan and Devil, are found in Scripture. Can we 
reconcile what we know to be true with the use of 
these terms in Scripture? This question I will en- 
deavor to answer in my next Discourse. 



DISCOURSE XII. 



USE AND MEANING OE THE TERMS DEVIL AND 
SATAN IN SCRIPTURE. 

We have seen by a brief examination the views 
that have been entertained and are still taught by 
many theological and religious writers, respecting the 
relation alleged to exist between God and Satan, — 
between the Supreme Deity and an almost supreme 
Devil. If, as we supposed, this common view of 
Deity and Devil, as two great antagonistic pow- 
ers, two mighty persons necessarily and eternally 
hostile to each other, waging an interminable war, 
unless it be terminated, as many allege it will, by a 
surrender on the part of God to Satan of an im- 
mense majority of the human family, thus closing 
the contest by crowning the Devil conqueror, — if 
this view be, as we supposed, incompatible with 
every reasonable view of the attributes of Supreme 
Deity, if intellect, affections, and conscience unite 
with all external nature in pronouncing against this 
conception of the Creator, then we properly inquire, 
What is the signification of the terms found in the 
Bible, holding the Scriptures, as we all do, to contain 



THE TERMS DEVIL AND SATAN. 



173 



the highest, best, and sufficient record of truth and 
duty to mankind ? What is the use and what the 
meaning of the terms Satan and Devil in the Scrip- 
tures ? 

It would be impossible in a single Discourse to con- 
sider all the passages in which these terms are found. 
But we may examine some of them, and endeavor 
to do something to elucidate the subject. First, as 
to the word Satan. This is a Hebrew word, and 
wherever found in Scripture is to be regarded as a 
Hebrew word, not translated. Many superficial 
readers no doubt suppose this word, being Hebrew, 
to be very frequently used in the Old Testament, 
and will probably be surprised to find that it is only 
used seven or eight times in all our English transla- 
tion of the Old Testament. It is frequently used, 
however, in the original Hebrew, and this fact assists 
us in determining its use and signification. In these 
seven or eight instances, it is used as a name or per- 
sonification, that is to say, as if applied to a par- 
ticular being or person. And concerning some of 
these passages there is considerable diversity of 
opinion, among critics calling themselves orthodox, 
as to whether the personage referred to was an evil 
or a good personage. For instance, the difficulties 
arise in this'way. 1 Chron. xxi. 1, it is said, " Satan 
stood up against Israel, and provoked David to 
number Israel." Referring to the very same trans- 
action, Samuel (2 Sam. xxiv. 1) says, £S The anger 
of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he 
moved David against them to say, Go, number Is- 
rael and Judah." The writer of Chronicles says it 
was Satan provoked David to this act; Samuel 
15* 



174 



USE OF THE TERMS 



says it was God provoked David to this act. Hence 
some, desiring to reconcile the statements, say this 
Satan must be a good angel, and not a being hostile 
to Jehovah, but one acting by the direction of the 
Lord, so that the Lord himself and Satan, his good 
angel, may be said to have done the same act. 

Again, in the second chapter of Job, it is said, 
" There was a day when the sons of God came to 
present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came 
also amongst them." Here the critics are perplexed 
again to determine whether this Satan denotes a ma- 
lignant spirit, an enemy of God and man, or a faith- 
ful but suspicious servant of Jehovah, one of the 
sons of God here spoken of. Eichhorn, Herder, and 
other eminent critics defend this view ; for otherwise 
they cannot well account for the presence of the Devil 
in heaven amongst the angels of God, and he especial- 
ly holding a conversation and argument with God. 
This view may find some support from the fact that 
the angel of God is in another place in the original 
expressly called Satan, Numbers xxii. 22, alluding 
to Balaam who went to curse Israel, it is said, " Be- 
cause he went, the angel of the Lord stood in the 
way for an adversary (Satan) against him." 

Here we begin to receive some light when we 
come to the meaning of the word Satan. It literal- 
ly signifies an adversary, enemy, or opposer, and it 
is so translated in every instance in which it is 
translated, and in every case except the few disput- 
ed instances already referred to, and where it remains 
untranslated, it alludes to human beings without 
any doubt. 

I mention a few instances. 1 Kings xi. 23, 25, it 



DEVIL AND SATAN. 



175 



is said, " God stirred him up another adversary (or 
Satan), Rezon, the son of Eliadah ; and he was an 
adversary (Satan) to Israel all the days of Solomon." 
Again, 1 Samuel xxix. 4, the Philistines say of David, 
" Make this fellow return, lest in the battle he be an 
adversary (or Satan) to us." 1 Kings v. 4, Solomon, 
alluding to the wars which had prevented David from 
building a temple, says, " But now the Lord hath 
given me rest on every side, so that there is neither 
adversary (or Satan) nor evil occurrent." From these 
passages it is clear that in Hebrew usage whatever 
was an obstacle, an enemy, or adversary, whether 
personal or impersonal, was called Satan. 

But how does it happen that, in the few instances 
in which the term is left untranslated, it is employed 
as a name, or personal substantive ? This is readily 
understood when we remember that Chronicles, Job, 
and Zechariah, the books in which the word is 
found, were all written after the return of the He- 
brews from captivity, or within 500 years before 
Christ, that is to say, 3,500 years, according to com- 
mon chronology, after the events referred to in Gen- 
esis. Eichhorn and other critics (called orthodox) 
regarded the belief in the Devil as having no exist- 
ence among the Jews till after their captivity in 
Babylon, having acquired this idea from the good 
and evil deities of the Babylonians. But whether 
these critics are correct in supposing that the Jews 
believed in a personal Satan, an evil deity, any more 
after than before the captivity, we need not be anx- 
ious to determine. For agreeably with the use of 
language at that day with them, as with us at this 
day, it was natural and rhetorical for them to per- 



176 



USE OF THE TERMS 



sonify evil, and designate every person, object, or in- 
fluence that was inimical, adverse, or opposed to 
them, as a Satan, an opponent. 

The term is obviously employed in the same sense 
in the New Testament, as in Rev. ii. 9, where it is 
said of the church in Smyrna, " I know thy works, 
and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich,) and 
I know the blasphemy of them which say they are 
Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan." 
Here the persons of Jews are called "the syna- 
gogue of Satan." And still more distinctly is the 
Jewish use of the term apparent in the reply of Jesus 
to Peter, when, Peter rebuking Jesus, Jesus turned 
(Matt. xvi. 23) "and said unto Peter, Get thee be- 
hind me, Satan ; thou art an offence unto me," — al- 
most the very words which Matthew (iv. 10) repre- 
sents Jesus as saying to the Devil in what is called 
the temptation : " Get thee hence, Satan." This is a 
most expressive illustration of the real signification 
of this term Satan. An obstacle, an opposition or 
adverse influence, an offence, was termed a Satan, 
the word being used as a proper name, as if desig- 
nating a person. Jesus called Peter Satan, because 
he offended or opposed him. More abstract and 
logically accurate as our language is, it is not sin- 
gular to meet with the same use of terms among 
ourselves. We say of a man who pertinaciously 
opposes another's prosperity, that he is Satan to 
that man, and in an excited state of mind we would 
in addressing such a man say, Begone, thou Satan, 
from our presence. 

We now come to the term Devil. This word is 
entirely confined to the New Testament. It is 



DEVIL AND SATAN. 



177 



never used in the Old Testament. The plural, devils, 
is found three or four times in the Old Testament ; 
but in every instance it plainly refers to gods instead 
of evil spirits, — it refers to images, idols, satyrs, 
nymphs, or forest gods. For instance, Levit. xvii. 7, 
the Israelites having sacrificed in the open fields 
to pagan deities, it is said, " They shall no more 
offer sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have 
gone." Deut. xxxii. 17, Moses, referring to the de- 
fections of the Jews, says, " They sacrificed unto 
devils, to gods whom they knew not, to new gods, 
whom your fathers feared not." And, 2 Chron. xi. 
15, it is said that Jeroboam " ordained him priests 
for the high places, and for the devils, and for the 
calves which he had made." These are different 
Hebrew words from those which are so translated 
in the New Testament, and are the names of divin- 
ities in the nations around the Hebrews, and should 
all have been translated deities, instead of devils. So 
we discover the term Devil is never used in the Old 
Testament. Our inquiry, therefore, is necessarily 
confined to the New Testament. 

There are two words which are indiscriminately 
translated devil ox devils; one is daLfioviov, the other 
Bidpokos. The pertinent questions here are these : Are 
these terms, or is either of them, always applied to 
one and the same being? Does either of these terms 
invariably apply in Scripture to a malignant, spirit- 
ual, invisible being, or are they both applied various- 
ly to beings living and dead, to human beings and 
inanimate objects? We must answer by an exam- 
ination of some passages. 

First, as to the term bai^ovia. 1 Corinth, x. 20, 21, 



178 



USE OF THE TERMS 



Paul, addressing a church of Greek converts to Chris- 
tianity, says, " The things which the Gentiles sacri- 
fice, they sacrifice to devils (8at/«wtW), and not to God ; 
and I would not that ye should have fellowship with 
devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the 
cup of devils ; ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's 
table and of the table of devils." Referring to this 
passage, an eminent theologian of the Presbyterian 
Church of Scotland says : " Considered abstractly, the 
pagan worship and sacrifices were not offered to 
God, whom they knew not. But as little were they 
offered to that being whom Christians or Jews call 
the Devil or Satan, with whose character or history 
they were equally unacquainted." Again, speaking 
of a similar passage (Rev. ix. 20), he says : " It is 
equally manifest here that the word rendered devils 
ought to have been demons (or gods) ; nor is it less 
manifest that every being who is not the one true 
God, however much conceived to be superior to us, 
whether good or bad, hero or heroine, demigod or 
demigoddess, angel or departed spirit, saint or sin- 
ner, real or imaginary, is in the class comprised 
under the name demons, and the worship of them is 
as much demonolatry as the worship of Jupiter, 
Mars, and Minerva. A great part of the heathen 
worship is confessedly paid to the ghosts of departed 
heroes, of conquerors and potentates, and of the in- 
ventors of arts, whom popular superstition, after dis- 
guising their history with fables and absurdities, had 
blindly deified. Now to all such beings they them- 
selves, as well as the Jews, assigned the name 
daimoniaP 

The correctness of these remarks as to the use of 



DEVIL AND SATAN. 



179 



the Greek term is demonstrated by the fact, that the 
translators have actually rendered the same word 
gods instead of devils. Acts xvii. 18, some of the 
Greeks at Athens say of Paul, " What will this 
babbler say ? He seemeth to be a setter forth 
of strange gods [baipovuav). n These considerations 
as to the word sometimes translated devils and 
sometimes gods in the New Testament, assist us in 
understanding the same word when applied to the 
men and women said to have been possessed of 
devils. Speaking of these instances in which devils 
(daifjLovla) are said to have been in or cast out of 
persons, the same Presbyterian writer referred to 
says : " Though we cannot discover with certainty 
from all that is said in the Gospel concerning pos- 
session, whether the demons were conceived to be 
the ghosts of wicked men deceased, or lapsed an- 
gels, or (as was the opinion of some early Christian 
writers) the mixed descendants of certain angels 
(whom they understood by the sons of God men- 
tioned in Genesis vi. 2) and of the daughters of men, 
it is plain they were supposed to be malignant spir- 
its. They are exhibited as the causes of the most 
direful calamities to the unhappy persons whom they 
possess, — dumbness, deafness, madness, epilepsy, 
and similar affections." Dr. Jahn, the able Roman 
Catholic archaeologist, in presenting the arguments 
to be offered against a real possession by a malig- 
nant devil, says: ' ; Jesus and his Apostles teach us 
that all things, even the most minute, are under the 
direction of God. They could not therefore for a 
moment suppose that so great miseries were inflict- 
ed by demons (whether the spirits of dead men or 



180 



USE OF THE TERMS 



other evil spirits), or that God would be accessory to 
such evils by permitting them to exist in such a 
way. They would not countenance such an opin- 
ion the more especially, because it had its origin 
among nations which were given to idolatry. It 
was a common belief among such nations, that the 
celestial divinities governed the world by proxy, in- 
trusting it to inferior deities and to the spirits of the 
dead." * 

Now as to the other Greek word, fodjSoAo?, let us 
ascertain how this is employed. Like dcupoviov, it is 
also applied to men and women, to diseases and evil 
influences ; though it is always understood in a bad 
or malignant sense, and never as referring to gods, 
both good and evil, as the word baifioviov does. AidpoXos, 
applied to men and women, is translated in our Eng- 
lish version, sometimes as slanderer, sometimes as 
false accuser, and sometimes as devil. 1 Tim. iii. 11, 
Paul says, " Even so must their wives [the wives of 
deacons] be grave, not slanderers (dia(36\ovs) " ; and, 
2 Tim. iii. 3, he says, there shall be evil men " with- 
out natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers 
(Sia/3oXoi)." And Jesus himself is represented as call- 
ing Judas devil ($idj3o\os), John vi. 70 : " Jesus an- 
swered, Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of 
you is a devil (Sta/3o\os)." But not only is this word 
applied to women and men of a bad moral character, 
but in general terms to classes of sick persons, as 
appears by the fact that the removing of these devils, 
or of this influence of the devil, is called healing the 
persons. Acts x. 38, Peter, in a sermon he was preach- 

* Jahn's Archaeology, 3d ed., Section 197. 



DEVIL AND SATAN. 



181 



ing to a crowd, says, " God anointed Jesus of Naza- 
reth with the Holy Ghost and with power ; who went 
about doing good, and healing all that were oppres- 
sed of the devil (rod dia(36\ov) ; for God was with him." 
From this, says Dr. Jahn, the Roman Catholic writer 
already mentioned, " it clearly appears that, in the 
view of the sacred writers, to be a sick person, and 
to be a demoniac, or vexed with the devil, were 
only different expressions for the same thing. The 
sacred historians frequently say that the demoniacs 
were made whole or restored, which is an intima- 
tion at least that they were previously diseased. If, 
moreover, Luke, who was a physician, uses such ex- 
pressions as these, viz. to heal, to be healed from 
spirits, to heal those oppressed with a devil, — if he 
uses such expressions in reference to demoniacal 
possessions, it is clear we are to understand posses- 
sions in his language to mean the same with dis- 
eases, and nothing more." (Sect. 196.) 

During their captivity of seventy years, the He- 
brews were familiarized with the Persian idea of two 
principles, the evil principle and the good, by which 
they accounted for the good and evil of the world, 
good things being created by the good deity, and 
evil things by the evil deity. Two generations of 
Jews growing up in the midst of those who enter- 
tained this doctrine, they naturally came to use the 
same method of expression, though not to convey the 
same ideas. They began to employ the Hebrew word 
Satan as a name, a personification, which, as their 
writings show, they never had done during thepre- 
vious three thousand years. It at once appeared a 
strong and forcible manner of expressing an adverse 
16 



182 



USE OF THE TERMS 



or opposing influence to call it a Satan. And the 
same of a person. An enemy, a spy or informer, they 
designated Satan; and so, as we have seen, Jesus 
himself calls Judas didpokos (devil), because Judas was 
a spy or betrayer, as he had before called Peter Sa- 
tan. This was according to his uniform custom, 
using the common language to give strong expres- 
sion to his own ideas ; and there was no misunder- 
standing on the part of those who heard him. In- 
deed, the same use of speech is not remarkable 
among ourselves. We do not misunderstand a 
speaker when he says of a notoriously vicious man, 
that he is the very devil, that he is a perfect Satan. 
Nor do we misconceive when it is said of a man 
repeatedly unfortunate, severely tried, that his evil 
genius, his demon, seems to drive him, — the devil 
thwarts and vexes him. The term is often poetically 
applied to men, and we find the great dramatist, 
speaking of hypocrites, say : 

" They clothe their naked villany 
With old odd ends, stolen forth of holy writ, 
And seem as saints when most they play the devil." 

In the first centuries of Christianity the sect of 
Gnostics and Manichseans introduced this very doc- 
trine of good and evil principles, good and evil dei- 
ties, the one creating and controlling darkness and 
evil, the other controlling light and good. 

A theological historian tells us of a sect of Chris- 
tians called Satanians, " a branch of the Messalians, 
who appeared about the year 300. It is said, among 
other things, that they believed the Devil to be ex- 
tremely powerful, and that it was much wiser to re- 
spect and adore, than to curse him.",' 



DEVIL AND SATAN. 



183 



Thus far in our inquiry we have seen that the 
word Satan is a Hebrew word, and that it is applied 
in the Hebrew Scriptures to Rezon, son of Eliadah, to 
King David, and other human beings, and to war, — 
to any thing or influence that may be called an 
enemy or opposer; and that in the New Testament, 
Jesus, according to the then common use of lan- 
guage, distinctly applies this term to Peter, calling 
him Satan, and the words three or four times trans- 
lated devils in the Old Testament should be trans- 
lated deities or gods, and that the word devil is never 
used in the Old Testament. 

And coming to the New Testament, we have 
found* that the word daifiovla, generally translated 
devils, is sometimes also translated gods, as when 
Paul is called " a setter forth of strange gods " ; that 
the same word is applied to satyrs, forest gods, im- 
ages of wood or stone, good deities and bad deities, 
and also to men and women, to sick and insane per- 
sons ; and we have given you the testimony of most 
eminent Presbyterian and Roman Catholic theolo- 
gians, that Jesus himself employed the term in this 
sense, as did also the Gospel historian, Luke. 

And we have found that the term Sidpo\o$, ren- 
dered the devil most generally, is by St. Paul ap- 
plied to both men and women, translated by our 
English version sometimes by the word slanderer, 
sometimes false accuser, and sometimes devil, as 
when Jesus said of Judas, " I have chosen you 
twelve, and one of you is a devil " ; and that, agree- 
ably to the testimony of Dr. Jahn, the same term 
(didfioXos as well as bamoviov) is applied to insane 
and diseased persons, as when Peter says, " God 



184 



USE OF THE TERMS 



anointed Jesus, who went about doing good, and 
healing all that were oppressed of the devil. " We 
have found that the word Satan is used as a name 
or personification only in the books of the Old Testa- 
ment written subsequent to the captivity, i. e. within 
500 years before Jesus, and that while in captivity 
the Jews became familiar with the Persian doctrine 
of two principles or deities, — one creator and ruler 
of evil, and the other creator and ruler of good ; 
and that the Jews used their own word Satan, mean- 
ing adversary or opposer, to express the Persian idea 
of the evil principle or deity ; and that this was a 
natural use of language, not misunderstood by them- 
selves, and not implying that they had adopted the 
doctrine of an evil, as well as a good, deity. 

This much is established beyond all question, that 
these terms, Satan and Devil, are not always in Scrip- 
ture applied to angels or spirits, or invisible beings 
of any name, evil or good ; but that by the Hebrew 
writers, by St. Paul and by Jesus, both these terms are 
applied to men and women, and diseases, influences, 
and inanimate objects. And whether or not the ex- 
istence can be proved of such a person as the being 
commonly meant by the words Satan and Devil, — a 
person who, like God, is omnipresent and invisible, — 
who is at the same time present in every quarter of 
the world, instigating human hearts to evil passions, 
and human hands to evil deeds, — who is the eternal 
enemy of God, and is at war with the Almighty as 
much as he is with human beings, and who is to defy 
God, and before his face to carry away, eventually, 
most of God's creatures, to torture them for ever, — 
whether or not the existence of such a person, or 



DEVIL AND SATAN. 



185 



deity, or devil, can be demonstrated, this much we 
have now established from the words of the prophets, 
and apostles, and Jesus, that the w _ ords Satan and 
Devil (Satan and 8id$o\os), in the Old and New 
Testament, do not teach, at least do not establish, 
the being and authority of such a person. Or should 
it still be insisted on, that these terms do prove the 
existence and power of such a person, it must also 
be accepted as a logical and necessary inference, that 
the disciple Peter was Satan, and the disciple Judas 
was bta$o\os, and this on the incontestable author- 
ity of Jesus himself, who calls the one Satan and the 
other Devil, so that both Satan and the Devil are hu- 
man beings, and, if they are distinct persons, were 
both disciples of Jesus ; or if identical, then he seemed 
to deceive the Great Teacher, by appearing in two 
characters, one of which Jesus detected in his base- 
ness, and the other of which remained undetected, 
and became one of the great preachers of the Gos- 
pel, so that Satan, the Devil, becomes the author 
of two of the Epistles of the New Testament. 

But keeping in view the literal signification of the 
term, namely, opposed to, contrary, adverse, spy, in- 
former, and keeping in view the fact, that the word 
Satan is always employed in the Hebrew books 
written previous to the captivity to signify a human 
enemy or adversary, or an opposing influence of any 
kind, as we have shown by several examples, we 
conceive that it cannot be difficult to understand 
how naturally the Hebrew writers who had become 
familiar with the heathen doctrine- of two creat- 
ing and ruling principles, the evil and the good, 
should employ their own term to personify every hos- 
16* 



186 



USE OF THE TERMS 



tile being or agency, whether hostile to good or to 
evil purposes of theirs. And as naturally the Greek 
term SidpoXos, by which the Hebrew Satan is trans- 
lated, appears as a similar personification in the New 
Testament writings. As James (iv. 7) says, " Resist 
the devil (Sia/3oAos), and he will flee from you," — an 
obvious personification of temptation or evil, — i. e. 
resist evil, and you will conquer it. And only by this 
use of the term foa/3oW as a personification can we 
perceive the significancy and appropriateness of that 
passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews, ii. 14, 15, " that 
through death he might destroy him that had the 
power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them 
who through fear of death were all their lifetime sub- 
ject to bondage " ; — a virtual declaration that wher- 
ever the principles and spirit of Jesus are brought 
into contact with wrong or evil, they will subdue 
and destroy it, thus delivering man from that moral 
death, — death to truth, goodness, love, and peace. 
The devil here is obviously a personification, signify- 
ing everything inimical, adverse, or opposed to, the 
true welfare and enjoyment of man, every evil 
thought or evil passion. Otherwise, on the com- 
mon understanding of the terms, the unequivocal 
declaration must be admitted, that the design of the 
death of Jesus was to destroy this person, dcdpdXos, 
the devil, and it is vain to attempt any longer to 
alarm the world by pointing them to the remains of 
a destroyed and dead devil. 

In Scripture language we find almost every princi- 
ple, virtue, and sentiment personified. When we find 
wisdom personified, as in Proverbs i. 20, " Wisdom 
crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets. 



DEVIL AND SATAN. 



187 



she crieth in the chief place"; Proverbs vii. 4, " Say 
unto wisdom, Thou art my sister, and call under- 
standing thy kinswoman " ; Proverbs viii. 2, " She 
standeth in the top of high places " ; — when we find 
patience personified, as by James i. 4, " Let pa- 
tience have her perfect work " ; — when we find char- 
ity personified, as by Paul, (1. Cor. 13,) " Charity suf- 
fereth long, charity envieth not, seeketh not her own, 
is not easily provoked " ; — when we find sin person- 
ified, as when Paul (Rom. vii. 8, 11, 17) says, " Sin, 
taking occasion, wrought in me all manner of con- 
cupiscence ; sin deceived and slew me ; now it is no 
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me " ; and 
this personification of sin is strikingly similar to the 
use of the term Devil ; — when we find every book of 
Scripture abounding with personifications like these, 
can we be perplexed to understand such injunctions 
as this from St. Paul (Eph. iv. 26-31): "Let 
not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give 
place to the devil; let all bitterness and anger and 
evil-speaking be put away from you." The devil 
here can mean no mighty invisible and omnipresent 
being, for it is clearly implied that it is something 
that man possesses power to oppose, and the phrases, 
"neither give place to the devil," and, "let all anger 
and evil-speaking be put away from you," are ob- 
viously only different ways of expressing the same 
thing. 

With this natural and reasonable view of the 
Scripture use of these terms, a personification of ev- 
ery trying or opposing influence, tempting thoughts, 
suggestions, passions, and by applying it to the in- 
stance of the word Satan in the trial of Job, and of 



188 



USE OF THE TERMS 



the word Devil as employed by Matthew and Luke 
in narrating what is called the Temptation of Jesus, 
we may discern a depth of meaning and a force and 
beauty of illustration which are utterly lost on the 
application of the common theory, which only pre- 
sents these narratives as strange and unintelligible 
combinations both of ideas and of words, neither 
profitable nor instructive, natural nor beautiful. Both 
these narratives, especially that called the Tempta- 
tion of Jesus, afford valuable illustrations of truth, 
experience, and duty, which cannot now, for want of 
time, be noticed. 

In seeking for an interpretation of these terms of 
Scripture, which may render them intelligible and 
bring them into harmony with consciousness, expe- 
rience, and nature, let no one imagine that he dis- 
covers a desire to escape from, or weaken the im- 
port of, that strong Scripture language which repre- 
sents the inevitable results of voluntary wrong, ha- 
bitual and cherished sin: By no scheme, plan, or 
atonement can any man evade a righteous retribu- 
tion. The hourly observation of human life may 
sufficiently admonish us, that the Supreme Father, 
infinitely merciful and just, requires no such agent 
as an omnipresent and malignant being to carry into 
execution his retributive laws. A ubiquitous Devil, 
full of unmitigated malice, and a roaring hell of 
material flames, attended by the satellites of Satan, 
have long ago lost their charm, even with those who 
think they believe in their existence. Such delinea- 
tions do not much alarm the most ignorant and de- 
praved. Unprincipled, dishonest, and immoral men, 
however firmly they believe in the Devil, dread a 



DEVIL AND SATAN. 



189 



constable or a sheriff much more than they do Satan 
or the Devil ; they are more alarmed at the thought 
of a county jail or state prison, than they are at the 
thought of a hell of fire and brimstone. 

Do we not all know, have we not all experienced 
or discerned, something of that fearful inward sense 
of desolation attendant upon wrong ? To every wil- 
fully vicious and habitually wicked man, there is, in 
the loss of reputation, in the loss of sympathy, in the 
loss of self-respect, in the loss of spiritual enjoyment, 
in present remorse, and in gnawing fear of the in- 
visible future, in which all the capacities of discern- 
ing the present and reviewing the past may be so 
unspeakably enlarged and quickened, — in all this, to 
such a man, there is a deep, burning hell, more real 
and more awful than any hell of fire and flames and 
angry devils. There is such a capacity of deep an- 
guish in the human heart, as may crowd eternity into 
an hour, or stretch an hour into eternity. And still 
more, in denying that our Creator and Father shares 
his sovereignty with a great, eternal, and wicked 
spirit, who now mars God's happiness, and is ulti- 
mately to defeat the Almighty in his loftiest pur- 
poses, — in repudiating this, I would not be under- 
stood to dogmatize, and to deny the existence of all 
invisible spiritual agencies, whether evil or good. 
There may be permitted in some sense evil spiritual 
agencies. And not for beds of pearls, not for mines 
of gold, would I lose the soothing, sacred influence 
of the impression that the pure spirits of departed 
loved ones are still the servants of the Holy One, by 
gentle ministrations, unseen but not unfelt, warning 
and encouraging us, shedding over our hearts a 



190 USE OF THE TERMS DEVIL AND SATAN. 

heavenly peace, and inspiring us with heavenly hope 
of a heavenly reunion. And I cannot close this Dis- 
course without remarking that, in the prosecution of 
this interesting inquiry, to already all-sufficient evi- 
dence I find added superabundant testimony, that 
this revered Book is a rich and exhaustless treasury 
of truth, of human experience and history, indicating 
and illustrating with power and beauty the sublimest 
principles of human action, the highest standard of 
human duty, and the purest and most lasting source 
of human enjoyment. A time is dawning, is^ at 
hand, when, by a reasonable, scientific, natural in- 
terpretation, these long honored and much pervert- 
ed Scriptures will be rescued from the ridicule of 
thoughtless ignorance, from the scoffs of the incred- 
ulous but uninquiring, and from the scorn of cold- 
hearted infidelity, and become an ever-flowing foun- 
tain of spiritual life, from which toiling, hoping 
human hearts shall drink, and find peace and joy in 
holiness of spirit. 



DISCOURSE XIII. 



GOD AND T NATURE. 

HAVING NO HOPE, AND WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD. — 

Eph. ii. 12. 

"Were you to exhaust thought in attempting to 
frame a fitting description of a rational being who 
has found his residence on our globe, and who is 
the living embodiment of moral gloom, unmitigated 
sorrow, and deep, unutterable woe, no language 
could you find more concisely expressive or more 
thoroughly complete than this thrillingly descriptive 
sentence, " without God and without hope." This 
is a description to which it must be trusted that no 
human being could be found to answer. Yet it 
should not be disguised, it cannot have escaped the 
observation of any close observer, that in not a 
few, in many instances, there appears a tendency 
towards such a condition of spiritual desolation. In 
our day, restless, indefatigable Science is extending 
her researches in every quarter, as if affording assur- 
ance of a literal realization of those Scriptural words, 
" There is nothing covered that shall not be re- 
vealed, nothing hid that shall not be made known," 



192 



GOD AND NATURE. 



bringing "to light the hidden things of darkness, 
and making manifest the counsels of the heart." 

As with a thousand hands she is opening a thou- 
sand hitherto unopened pages in this stupendous 
volume of nature, discovering new facts, new opera- 
tions, new laws, or, if not new, facts, operations, and 
laws hitherto unknown or unobserved. But wisdom 
does not always increase in a corresponding ratio 
with knowledge, as appears from the momentary 
exultation over every fresh development. With 
every slight discovery, some voices are heard echoing 
the Eureka ! of the Greek philosopher. " I have found 
it! I have found it!. The world's mystery is ex- 
plained ; the problem of the universe is solved." As 
if they had eaten of the tree in the Eden of the Mo- 
saical cosmogony, they seem to be conscious of veri- 
fying the serpentine prediction in having become 
gods, knowing both good and evil ; but unhappily for 
themselves, and sometimes unhappily for the world, 
they do not, as to their intellectual being, make that 
other discovery which the two occupants of Eden 
made, as described in this concise language : " They 
knew that they were naked." Though not always, 
yet the poet's apothegm is sometimes true, that " a 
little learning is a dangerous thing." But peril is 
the true element of progress, and every slight in- 
crease of knowledge, with all the dangers it may 
bring, is preferable to the most blissful security of 
ignorance. The sagacity, however, which in our 
day has detected a few of the latent properties of 
light, and heat, and electricity, and steam, fails in a 
just improvement of its discoveries, when it assumes 
a haughty and scornful attitude, and with a self- 



GOD AND NATURE. 



193 



complacent pride affects to despise the paternal roof 
under which it was nurtured, and to which it is in- 
debted for its present expansion and maturity. Con- 
tempt and ingratitude are as ungraceful features in 
the character of science, as they are in that of igno- 
rance. Pride goeth before a fall, is not only a He- 
brew proverb, but it is the expression of a fact which 
all history attests. Superstition, as she becomes 
proud, ambitious, and despotical, weakens confi- 
dence and awakens foes ; and just in proportion as 
Science assumes an air of haughtiness, and scorns 
the steps by which she rises, she too will weaken 
confidence in her own worth, and retard her own 
advancement; for all experience testifies that men 
prefer old tyrants to new ones, and if it be only a 
change of masters they are to have, they will more 
respect the superstition which is hallowed by their 
earliest and tenderest associations, than the unwar- 
rantable presumption of a new-bom science, which 
rudely shocks all that their pure childhood has held 
dear and holy. Our human nature is indeed great 
in its capacities, but it is yet small in its acquire- 
ments. The wisest of our nature who have passed 
from earth, and the wisest of our nature who now 
live, are standing only on the sandy and wreck- 
strewn shore -of the boundless sea of knowledge. 
Ever and anon a swelling wave casts up some weed 
or shell, unfolding to us some new beauty and sug- 
gesting to us some fresh thought, but the inestima- 
ble treasures which lie deep down in that ocean's 
bed are only intimated by the little we observe. 
And is it not often cited as an evidence of Newton's 
greatness, as the richest gem that sparkles in the 
17 



194 



GOD AND NATURE. 



diadem that crowns his memory, that he deemed 
himself, even in the zenith of his fame, but as a little 
child playing with a few pebbles on the shore, while 
the illimitable sea of truth lay before him still undis- 
covered ? I would not presume to say that this 
manly humility, this ingenuous spirit, which is not 
ashamed to recognize the boundaries which circum- 
scribe its knowledge, — I would not presume to say 
that this is no characteristic of our day. Indeed, the 
vast extent of elements still unexplored is not only 
admitted, but urged by the most unspiritual as a 
plea for the most unrestrained inquiry and incessant 
effort. Yet strangely incompatible with this is the 
degree of dogmatism which marks the infidelity of 
our time. In much of the scepticism of this gener- 
ation there is an arbitrary positiveness, which is as 
repulsive as the authoritative claims of superstition. 
As to respect, I frankly confess that I respect as 
much the honest doubt of the sceptic, as I respect 
the honest^faith of the devotee. But it is neither 
the doubt of the one nor the faith of the other that I 
respect, it is only the honesty of both ; and if there 
be any merit, it is that only which has merit in one 
case or the other. When scepticism becomes intol- 
erant and disrespectful, it is no more to be admired 
than superstition. A harsh and scornful infidelity 
can no more win our love, than can a threatening 
and domineering faith ; — spiritual despotism is 
the same, whether an unbeliever or a fanatic sway 
the iron sceptre. The yoke of the superstitious ty- 
rant is as easily worn as the yoke of the sceptical 
tyrant. 

Man, with mind developed and with large acqui- 



GOD AND NATURE. 



195 



sitions of science, stands at this day on this little 
speck of earth, and, raising his telescope towards the 
star-studded skies, through the vast space catches 
glimpses of faint light from worlds so distant that 
no ray of theirs has ever reached the earth. He 
gazes on, till conscious that he is standing only on 
the threshold of the great temple of the universe. 
Through the slightly open door he has caught some 
faint reflection of the ineffable splendors beyond the 
reach of mortal vision ; and while his eyes are yet 
dazzled with the mere conception of the incompre- 
hensible grandeur of countless worlds, he will ven- 
ture without a qualifying syllable to pronounce the 
decision of his wisdom, and declares as with author- 
ity, " This is nature, and there is no God." Then he 
looks down into the slime and sand beneath his feet, 
and observes the ceaseless vicissitude of life and 
growth and decay and death ; and with his proud 
positiveness confirmed, he contemns the world's ig- 
norance, and declares, " Yes, I know this is law ; 
there is no God." 

"Without a reproachful word, and without a tone 
of harshness, but calm in the confidence that truth 
and love must triumph, must reign and be eternal, I 
would say, " Pause in your rash decision, child of 
earth ! pause and ponder. If you can feel no rever- 
ence, at least exercise some humanity. In order to 
have God thrust from the universe, will you crush 
man to nothing ? Will you rob man of trust in a 
beneficent Ruler,, in order to gain trust in a theory 
which you can never prove? What conceivable 
advantage do you expect by attempting to deprive 
mankind of the solace which they find in recogniz- 



196 



GOD AND NATURE. 



ing the disposing power of a Supreme Intelli- 
gence?" 

You ask me in return, perhaps, to prove there is a 
God. Prove there is a God ! No, I never wrote a ser- 
mon, and cannot think I ever shall write one, to prove 
there is a God. As well might I attempt to prove my 
own existence. Read the metaphysics of four thou- 
sand years, and see the bungling logic and the end- 
less circle in which human thought revolves in fruit- 
less efforts to prove its own existence, wherever it 
begins and wherever it ends, taking for granted the 
very thing that it would prove. " I think, therefore 
I am," says one ; "I am, therefore I think," says 
another ; amounting to this, " I am, because I know 
I am," and " I know I am, because I am." " There 
is no God ; it is only nature." Well, mighty mind, 
thou who but yesterday wast a helpless infant, a 
small, unreasoning handful of breathing dust, sob- 
bing on a mother's bosom, how much wiser and 
better, tell me, will the world be, when you have 
taught it there is no God, but only nature ? What 
is nature ? teach us this wisdom. Nature ! Nature 
is what is, — what is, is nature. Whatever is, is, — 
and whatever is, is nature. Such is the resplendent 
light which bursts upon us, in exchanging God for 
nature. Then what is law ? shall I inquire. You 
answer, Law is the principle on which nature acts, 
the rule by which nature controls her motions. 
Nature acting by principles ! Nature controlling 
herself by rules ! Principles, rules, without intelli- 
gence, without cause, without origin ! Action and 
control without life ! The stability of nature implies 
intelligence, or it is intelligence. The uniformity 



GOD AND NATURE. 



197 



you call law implies of necessity a controlling power 
which gives that uniformity. 

I stand with you before the complex machinery of 
the huge engine, as its thousand parts harmoniously 
move. We stand securely and gaze on admiringly. 
I turn and ask you, What is this? This, this, 
you reply, is nature. And this motion ? I still further 
ask. This motion T this is law, the law of nature, 
you reply. Shall I ask you to prove that this mo- 
tion is simply law, to prove that this complex, har- 
monious mass is nature ? When you prove to me 
that it is nature, — simply, only nature, — then I 
may undertake to prove to you that there is a God. 
Till then I stand in silence. I stand securely too, 
amidst these elements of fire and earth and air and 
water. I stand admiringly, and from this frame so 
fearfully and wonderfully made, to yonder sun on 
whose brilliant face I cannot look, but only catch 
reflected rays, — from the mysterious fragrance rising 
from the delicate petal of the blushing rose, to the 
mysterious light that beams from the innumerable 
worlds far off in yon illimitable space, — from this 
mysterious thought, which grows and expands with 
this growing frame from helpless infancy, to that 
mysterious death, which in an instant severs the 
connection and leaves this form to crumble back to 
dust and reappear in other forms, — before all this I 
stand in a silence which itself is adoration, amidst 
all this I stand safely, fearlessly, and I seek no proof. 
I ask no mortal to prove that there is a God, as I 
ask no mortal to prove to me that I myself exist. 

Superstition, indeed, has represented God as the 
most revolting and monstrous of all beings ; and in- 
17* 



198 



GOD AND NATURE. 



asmuch as we can only yield affection to that which 
is congenial, can only love that which is lovely, — 
since we cannot for itself love disease or deformity, — 
since we cannot for itself love either pain or peril, — 
it is not amazing and inexplicable that, in preference 
to a God so unjust, vindictive, and monstrous, 
some have felt willing, some are willing, to have a 
world, and are seeking to prove that there is a world, 
without God, even on the condition that it be a 
world without hope. But because frail human sys- 
tems defame God, would you deny God ? Because 
human systems rob the world of justice, need you 
deprive the world of hope? Because warped and 
mistaught minds presume without authority and 
without cause to threaten you with a distant and 
possible evil, need you strive to bring upon your 
fellow-man a present and real calamity ? Hope is 
well styled the anchor of the soul. Take God, the 
thought of God, from the world, and you leave the 
soul without its anchor ; for a world without God is 
a world without hope. I supposed that you stood 
before, that we together stood before, the majestic 
proportions of a harmoniously moving engine. Stand 
again there as a parent, with your little loved one, 
the child of your affection, and as you point out the 
beauties of this remarkable production of nature, a 
rapidly revolving wheel attracts the garments of the 
little listener, and ere you have time for thought drags 
him beyond your reach. Round and round goes on 
the resistless wheel ; an instant more, and a few 
scattered fleshy fragments are all that remain to you 
of the object of your tenderest love. Shall I soothe 
then your agony by whispering, " This is only nature; 



GOD AND NATURE. 



199 



be at peace and dry up your tears, for there is no 
God ; this is law, it is nature's law " ? Shall I seek 
to comfort you then with the terms of your own phi- 
losophy ? Shall I say, " Shudder not, nor weep, fond 
parent ; your dear one is not so lovely in its aspect, 
but it is there, there it is before you ; it is only mat- 
ter, and matter is eternal. Your child is immortal, 
for you believe in the eternity of matter " ? But, 
sobbing through your tears, you say, " The little 
bright intelligence, the spark of innocence, so pure, 
so beautiful, so full of promise and of hope ! " " O 
no, friend! shake off your superstition; be manly, and 
revive your courage ; innocence is a fancy, beauty is 
a dream, and hope is but a shadow ; there can be no 
hope, for there is no God. Accident is unlimited, 
there is no bound to chance ; why may not nature 
re-collect the mutilated fragments ? Wait, look^ a 
little while, perhaps some law may restore the form 
of beauty, and reanimate the body, and return your 
dear one to your bosom." Is this the consolation 
you desire? Is it for this that you cultivate the 
sweet affections, and guide the opening mind, and 
direct the rising thought, and guard the unstained 
soul from peril, from the discord that may mar its 
joy, through all this present life ? There is no obli- 
gation, no responsibility, no wrong, no evil ; all is 
nature. O no! nature is sublime, and so is law; 
but this is rather more nature than you need, this is 
an exhibition of law that you do not seek, this is a 
manifestation of eternal matter that you do not 
want. 

Again I say, If you have no reverence, do not 
sacrifice humanity. Do not deprive our nature 



200 



GOD AND NATURE. 



of its highest and only real consolation. Do not 
wrong yourself by ignoring your own experience, 
by attempting to extinguish the only sun that sheds 
light on your own path. To deprive a spirit of the 
thought of God, is indeed to shroud the world in 
gloom, and to extinguish hope. You may talk of 
nature, but what is nature ? You can only answer, 
It is what is. The volcano belching forth fiery lava 
is as much nature as the field of waving grain or 
blushing fruit. Law! what know we of law? Law 
has neither instinct nor intelligence, and it may be law 
that the land of to-day shall be the sea of to-morrow. 
Who decides that war is not nature, as well as 
peace ? Who tells us that ignorance is not nature, 
as well as knowledge ? If ignorance is bliss, is it 
not folly to be wise ? True, there are poverty and 
misery, injustice and cruelty, and groans and tears ; 
but why not find comfort in the thought that this is 
nature ? Go to the child ministering to a suffering 
parent, and the mother bending over the couch of a 
dying child, and tell them it is nature, it is only law, 
there is no God ; and see if, by leaving them without 
God, you will not leave them without hope. Go to 
the myriads in the crowded cities of the world, the 
myriads of starving, sick, degraded, outcast, suffer- 
ing poor, and, godless as many no doubt wish the 
world to be, convince them there is no God, and their 
condition is nature, and see how much you will add 
to their comfort, how much you will increase their 
virtue, how much you will reconcile them to their 
place, how much you will improve the welfare of 
society. And see whether, in relieving them from 
superstition, as you think, you do not also relieve 



GOD AND NATURE. 



201 



them of virtue and honor and integrity and hope, 
and degrade them in many cases to the level of the 
brute ; for with no intelligence, no ruling, no dispos- 
ing power, no God, what stimulus, what motive, to 
rise or to advance ? Nature's greatest good to-day 
may to-morrow be her direst evil. This hour's min- 
ister of pleasure, nature's laws may make the next 
hour's minister of misery. Nature is only accident, 
chance. Nature is only a fortuitous combination of 
matter, and life is only a concatenation of events. 
"Why then toil or strive or hope, for there is no God 
to control ? But it is nature itself that declares itself 
the agent of a power supreme. It is law itself that 
bears testimony to the fountain of law. 

Great as man is, he knows not the past, he knows 
not the future. Beyond the hour when but the 
other day you became conscious of existence, what 
know you of the past? Nothing. Beyond this 
present moment, what know you of the future ? 
Nothing. "What is 

" This spot of earth we press, 
This speck of life in time's great wilderness ? 
A narrow isthmus, 'twixt two boundless seas, 
The past, the future, two eternities." 

This life is all we surely have, all we positively 
know. Take ihen from this present life, this world, 
the thought of God, and you divest it of its dignity. 
The past is not even a dream, the future is not even 
a phantom; and nature! who then knows what 
nature is, what nature was, what nature will be ? 

It is only that the eye of God is on it all, and hal- 
lows all, that it has worth or beauty, that we have joy 
or hope. It is only because we feel God lives, that we 



202 



GOD AND NATURE. 



live, that we are above the beasts, who, while they 
live, yet live in death, for they know not that they 
live. Remove the thought of an all-ruling power, 
directing all, light and darkness, good and evil, joy 
and sorrow, past and present, towards some end 
beneficent, all- wise, — take away this thought, and 
you leave the earth a body without a soul. " Dark- 
ness above, despair beneath, around it flame, within 
it death : — our origin a mystery, our life an enigma, 
our end a tragedy." "With no intelligence originat- 
ing and executing law, no power above controlling 
nature, nature is only accident, only chance, and the 
law of to-day may be confusion to-morrow. The 
life which you call nature this hour, may be death 
and darkness the next hour. Now go even to the low- 
est of human society, whose only inheritance is pov- 
erty, and whose only employment perhaps is crime, 
and if they have a reasoning power at all, if they 
have a ray of light above the animal, — go to those 
who are not superstitious, who have little reverence 
for churches and Sundays and Bibles and priests, — 
go to them and find what reconciles even them in 
any measure to their sad condition, and you will 
find it is consciousness of a power above, a God. 
Were it not for this, why should they live ? But 
they live in it may be an unuttered, but a conscious 
hope of better things, — hope that the controlling 
power, that God, somehow, some time, — to-morrow 
or next week or next year, in life or after life, — will 
in some way better their condition. And though the 
word faith they never heard, yet this is faith ; this is 
to them a faith which is the substance of things 
hoped for. And who dare say this may not be to 



GOD AND NATURE. 



203 



them a sustaining, a saving, a redeeming faith ? 
Would you convince them, if you could, that there 
is no God ? O how cruel, how unkind, to throw 
them godless upon themselves, heartless upon so- 
ciety, and hopeless upon the future, — to rob them 
of the only precious sparkling jewel which they hide 
beneath their rags and wretchedness, their poverty 
and profanity ! 

In kindness I say to the believer in nature as su- 
preme, Be content, if you can, to live amidst the 
blind forces round you ; if you can, be at peace and 
await the chance or fate that must dispose of you ; be 
content, and hope, even be happy if you can ; but do 
not doom other hearts who feel their ignorance, weak- 
ness, and dependence, — do not overwhelm them 
with the desolation of spiritual orphanage. Leave 
us not like little helpless children, who, being left 
an inheritance of wealth, are ignorant or know lit- 
tle of its value and its uses, bereft of parents and 
with no father's wisdom to direct them. Let us 
rather cheer and sustain ourselves with the convic- 
tion, that 

" Erom God we spring, to God we tend, 
Path, motive, guide, original and end." 

The honest believer in atheism is not an unbe- 
liever. He does not believe there is a God, but he 
does believe that there is no God ; the one is a belief 
as positive as the other. Do you reply, that you do 
not believe in God, because you cannot believe in a 
God without a cause? What is this but an ex- 
change of terms ? You believe in nature, and you 
are as ignorant of the cause of nature as of a cause 
of God. How can you believe in nature without a 



204 



GOD AND NATURE. 



first cause? You only deify nature, and worship 
that, believing nature has no cause, instead of ador- 
ing God above nature, believing that God has no 
cause. 

The atheist does not believe in the reality of God, 
but he does believe in the reality of nature. He does 
not understand how the little inert and lifeless seed, 
buried in the soil, should have a principle of life, 
which bursts from its confinement, and shoots above 
the ground, and rises and hardens into wood, and 
spreads out its hundred arms, and puts on its ver- 
» dant robe of beauty, and lives, and grows, and repeats 
itself through countless generations. And just as 
little does he understand the light that shines at mid- 
day ; he knows not whether the sun is a great globe 
of fire, or whether, like the moon, it is only a sphere 
reflecting rays from some greater, but remote and 
invisible orb. He only believes that it is nature, while 
another, who believes that it is nature, believes also 
that nature is but the expression of God ; and while 
the one stands lost in mystery and silent reverence 
before incomprehensible but blind nature, the other 
stands in mystery and reverence and confidence 
and gratitude before incomprehensible but intelli- 
gent God, rejoicing to believe, with the German 
poet, Leopold Schafer, — 

" All that God owns he constantly is healing, 
Quietly, gently, softly, but most surely : 
He helps the lowliest herb with wounded stalk 
To rise again. 

Deep in the treasure-house of wealthy nature 
A ready instinct wakes and moves, 
To clothe the naked sparrow in the nest, 
Or trim the plumage of an aged raven. 



GOD AND NATURE. 



205 



Yea, in the slow decaying of a rose, 

God works, as well as in the unfolding bud, — 

He works, with gentleness unspeakable, 

In death itself, a thousand times more careful 

Than even the mother, watching by her sick child." 

In the most kind and brotherly manner, for the 
comfort and peace of his own mind, as well as for 
the comfort of those around him, I would say to the 
sincere sceptic or disbeliever, Be mild in your man- 
ner, and beware of harsh epithets. You can exhibit 
as much bigotry and show as much fierceness of 
spirit in defending your heterodox creed, as the most 
abject devotee in contending for his doctrine. Tol- 
erate the superstitious faith of your church brother, 
even should he condemn you for your faith of scep- 
ticism. And, above all, be cool and cautious that 
you do not confound a rational and fraternal relig- 
ious faith with the fiery zeal of persecuting secta- 
rians. Do not mistake the extravagances of men 
who profess a form of religion for the fruits and 
spirit of religion itself. Search and try ; receive what 
you can receive'; live lovingly, and die peacefully 
and fearlessly, if not hopefully. 



18 



DISCOURSE XIV. 



IS SUFFERING NECESSARY? 

perfect through SUFFERINGS. — Hebrews ii. 10. 

Suffering ! Who has not experienced suffering? 
Who has not, at some hour, been led in thought to 
ask the cause of suffering, — to venture a specula- 
tion as to the good of suffering ? We are prone to 
form theories, and who has not some theory of suf- 
fering ? The element of suffering enters largely into 
human experience, though by no means so largely 
as many, as most persons, will be found to imagine. 
Enjoyment, or the opposite of suffering, at least the 
absence of suffering, greatly preponderates in the 
experience of ninety-nine in a hundred of the human 
family. But I am not now about to consider the 
extent of suffering, nor, except incidentally, the uses 
of suffering, but only the question, " Is suffering ne- 
cessary ? " 

In these times, perhaps more especially in these 
times, and even among the more liberal of religion- 
ists, there is a tendency to frame a philosophy of 
suffering, by which, as it would seem, to vindicate 



IS SUFFERING NECESSARY ? 



207 



the Creator. Wherever there is a theory of any- 
kind to be supported, men are prone to become 
champions of the Deity. One class of Christians, 
holding one theory of the final destiny of human 
beings, seems to regard the justice of God as com- 
mitted especially to its defence. Another class, de- 
claring a different theory of human destiny, claims 
for itself the special defence of God's boundless 
mercy. It is possible that in either case the cham- 
pionship of Deity is alike gratuitously assumed, 
and that the Divine character is not dependent, in 
any great degree, on the vindication by one of his jus- 
tice, or by the other of his mercy. There is a great 
disinclination among men to let that alone which 
they are not likely to improve. It is a rare thing to 
find a man willing to take things as they are, and 
endeavor to make the best of them, without perplex- 
ing himself sadly as to the best apology he can make 
for the Supreme "Wisdom, in permitting to exist 
some things, which, it is thought, might be easily 
dispensed with. 

We may hear not a little said of the necessity of 
suffering in the world. We may be told that it is 
necessary man should sometimes suffer, that he may 
know the better to enjoy ; that without sickness 
he might not ^appreciate health. Now, this is very 
far from proving a necessity for suffering ; it is no 
elucidation of the problem ; it throws no light upon 
the subject; it is simply assuming, that because suf- 
fering is, therefore it is necessary. This is only 
arguing after the fact, and the argument may as well 
be reversed, — suffering is necessary because there is 
suffering. Why not contend as well, that cruelty 



208 



IS SUFFERING NECESSARY ? 



and dishonesty and hypocrisy are necessary, because 
without them we might not appreciate kindness, 
honesty, and piety ? This reasoning would, in this 
case, be quite as logical and forcible as in the other, 
so far as it is designed to vindicate the Supreme 
Being. Is it necessary to find an apology for the 
Deity in permitting the existence of suffering ? Then 
is it any less needful to apologize for his permission 
of falsehood, fraud, and cruelty. If men, in their 
wisdom, must defend the Deity by showing a neces- 
sity for suffering, they should remember that they are 
only placing the difficulty a step farther back, with- 
out in any way reducing its dimensions. If a de- 
fence be at all essential, why not begin the defence 
at the right place, and, instead of begging the ques- 
tion by alleging or illustrating the necessity of suffer- 
ing, defend the Almighty for permitting the exist- 
ence of such a necessity ? 

Some, in past times, and probably not a few in 
our own times, have thus apologized for the Deity, 
till either for themselves or for others they have 
apologized the Supreme Being out of existence en- 
tirely, leaving the world godless and themselves 
without God in the world. And then, when they 
have enthroned that which they chose to designate 
as nature, what have they gained in knowledge, and 
how great is the addition to their comfort ? Does 
nature need no champions ? In what respect is the 
relation of things changed by the substitution of 
nature for God ? What flood of light then breaks in 
upon their minds as to the existence of suffering, or 
the existence of anything ? I would appeal directly 
to the experience of any mind which may have found 



IS SUFFERING NECESSARY ? 209 

itself a worshipper of nature as the only God. I 
would ask, were such a one before me, How much 
farther now have you penetrated into the cause or ten- 
dency of things, — into the origin or destiny of man, 
of yourself, your own being ? Tell me, if you know 
more of what nature is, and how nature operates, 
than your neighbor knows of what God is, or how 
God operates ? When you have looked upon your 
own body, and thought upon your own mind, and 
traced back your own experience, and asked the 
whence and the why of your own existence, have 
you not felt the twilight pass suddenly into starless, 
moonless, rayless night ? Have you not felt the 
darkness round you deepen into a blackness palpa- 
ble and impenetrable ? You who would depose God, 
and enthrone nature, and worship law, what are you 
but a weed, or the merest drift floating on the stream 
of life ? You have come into conscious being, you 
know not how ; you are passing along, for you know 
not what ; to go whither, you cannot tell ; or to dis- 
appear for ever, you know not when. You may any 
instant become the helpless victim of blind but some- 
how antagonistic forces, which blot you from being 
or crush you into dust ; and not a trust can you have 
in anything, not a hope can you have for anything. 

Men should be very cautious about constituting 
themselves keepers of God's attributes. God needs 
no such gratuitous championship. Does it not 
always betray an amazing arrogance in man to 
stand before his. fellow-men in the attitude of an 
attorney who has the Creator for his client, as if he 
had committed to this puny mortal the guardianship 
of his interests and the vindication of his honor? 
18* 



210 



IS SUFFERING NECESSARY .' 



And yet what is more common than for men, sin- 
cere, religious men, to tell us of the necessity of cer- 
tain plans on the part of God, in order to support 
the honor of his name and the integrity of his gov- 
ernment ? It is passing strange that man, wise as 
he may be, yet conscious of the rudimental character 
of his attainments, has not learned to be satisfied 
with declaring facts within his positive knowledge, 
instead of declaring necessities of which he can pos- 
sibly know nothing. To declare that God was under 
the necessity of adopting certain plans to accom- 
plish certain results, and that because certain events 
transpire around us, is only to abolish all distinc- 
tions between right and wrong, good and evil ; for 
then everything is right, because it is, every event is 
necessary, because it occurs/ Even on the supposi- 
tion that he was so, yet if it was necessary, as we 
hear frequently alleged, that Jesus should be the 
Almighty God, and that he, as both God and man, 
should suffer and die, and that necessity be argued 
from the facts that Jesus did suffer and did die, — what 
is this, but confounding every conception that we have 
of either right or wrong, obliterating all distinctions, 
and paralyzing all exertion ? for then, with equal 
certainty, all suffering is necessary, because of the 
fact of its existence. Vice and virtue, kindness and 
crime, falsehood and truth, are alike necessary, be- 
cause they exist. But then an objector interposes : 
It is revealed, — this necessity is revealed in Scripture ; 
therefore it is to be believed, however it may con- 
found our conceptions or controvert our observation. 
Here is just the place for difference of sentiment. 
When, not content with acknowledging the fact of 



IS SUFFERING NECESSARY 



211 



that suffering, you allege such necessity to be re- 
vealed in Scripture, you should add, By my inter- 
pretation ; for, in reply to such objector, I state em- 
phatically that I find no such necessity of God re- 
vealed in Scripture. This is your induction, your 
inference from certain words, and no more. How- 
ever such necessity might be predicated of man, how 
can it be presumed of God ? The Infinite Ruler, 
because an infinite ruler, could be reduced to no 
extremity. The honor of God could not be exposed 
to any peril ; the stability of God's government was 
dependent on the adoption of no peculiar plan. As 
concerning Jesus, suffering occurred ; it is ours to 
discern and appropriate its uses ; but when man as- 
serts its necessity, he transcends his knowledge. 

But leaving this particular instance, what do we 
know of human suffering, its origin and nature, its 
conditions and results ? Is it something entirely be- 
yond the control, independent of the agency, of man ? 
Certainly not. And yet, to prove suffering necessary, 
it must be shown to be, in whole and in part, utterly 
beyond all human knowledge and control. In what 
sense soever it maybe necessary, there can be no ques- 
tion as to the facts, that suffering has been, and may 
often be, averted, — may be mitigated, — may be, as in 
many instances it is, removed by certain precautions 
and applications. This much we know of its nature. 
On certain concurrences of circumstances, on the 
personal disregard of certain established regulations, 
suffering ensues. This much we know of its condi- 
tions. As to its effects, suffering sometimes subdue* 
and sometimes excites, sometimes softens and some- 
times irritates ; we are sometimes admonished and 



212 IS SUFFERING NECESSARY? 

sometimes alarmed, sometimes injured and some- 
times profited by suffering. This much, at least, we 
know of its results. At one time, suffering declares 
a man's misfortune ; at another, it declares his fault. 
One time it is an evidence of ignorance, and, again, it 
is an evidence of sin. Either an infant whc has never 
reasoned, or a mature and accomplished man, may 
in any one of a thousand ways ignorantly contra- 
vene the regular and proper law which pertains to 
things, and so bring suffering upon himself. This 
we may term misfortune or evil. Again, one may 
voluntarily disregard his actual knowledge of the 
quality and tendency of things, and by his own act 
bring pain and sorrow to himself, and then he sins 
and is conscious of his guilt. In either case, the 
suffering is no less suffering, but its moral relation 
in one case is very different from its moral relation 
in the other. But then, when suffering is expe- 
rienced, will you console its subject by arguing its 
necessity ? You would only console him, then, by 
argument against all reason ; for you are yourself 
assured, that by a little knowledge in the one case 
the misfortune could have been averted, and in the 
other, by a slight effort of the will, an effort which 
he was abundantly capable of making, the sin might 
have been avoided, i. e. the event would not have 
occurred, and neither would the suffering attend- 
ing it. 

The uses of suffering are unquestionable. Some- 
times " sweet are thu uses of adversity." It has 
been true, as the world's history demonstrates, that 
obstacles have been the steps up which the sons of 
men have climbed to knowledge, power, and place, 



IS SUFFERING NECESSARY ? 



213 



and even moral excellence. Who are the sages 
whom the world admires ? They who, by persever- 
ing research, and by protracted thought, foregoing 
ease and health, have opened doors which were long 
closed, and revealed mysteries long undiscovered. 
Who are the heroes whom the world honors ? Those 
who have resolved and acted, removing obstructions, 
surmounting obstacles, bravely encountering, and 
proudly vanquishing, numerous opposing forces ; se- 
curing peace, or property, or liberty, or all of them. 
Who are the martyrs whom the world reveres? 
They who, through persecution and hatred, through 
tortures and fires, through tears and blood, and 
pain and death, at the stake or on the cross, have 
witnessed a sublime loyalty to duty and to truth, as 
they esteemed it ; who, with unfaltering fidelity to 
their convictions, have shown the power in man to 
forfeit even life rather than to forfeit rectitude. Such 
are the facts, in all past history, of human experience. 
Historically, suffering has been, and in fact is, one, 
but only one, powerful agent in the formation of 
human character, in developing the noblest virtues 
and the sweetest graces. The highest perfection yet 
attained has, perhaps, been a perfection attained 
" through suffering." Yet, after all this, it would be 
neither good reasoning nor true philosophy to insist, 
that because there has been suffering, and because it 
has been overruled, so as to be instrumental in the 
development of character, in the cultivation of hu- 
man virtues, it is therefore a necessity, a univer- 
sal and inevitable law, or a special ordination of 
God. First, consider other questions. Is there no 
reality of enjoyment without a reality of suffering ? 



214 



IS SUFFERING NECESSARY 



Must we always endure in order to enjoy ? Con- 
sider facts again. A swelling flood in one country, 
or one neighborhood, sweeps away a habitation and 
destroys a human life, whilst it irrigates and renders 
fruitful many miles of land ; but are not whole king- 
doms or states equally irrigated and made fruitful at 
the same time, without the destruction of a single 
dwelling or a single being ? As to the development 
of human virtues, men are very differently affected. 
One man loses the accumulations of hard-hearted 
avarice, and becomes generous only as he becomes 
poor. Another man acquires wealth by his exer- 
tions, and grows generous only as he grows rich. 
So far from suffering being a necessity in his devel- 
opment of virtues, one man is haughty and cruel in 
his power, and grows kind and gentle as he feels his 
power passing from his hands. Another is unsocial 
and forbidding in his poverty and obscurity, and he 
grows agreeable as he grows eminent, and his virtues 
keep pace with his riches and honors. One man ac- 
quires great knowledge, and benefits his race only at 
the sacrifice of comfort and of health. Another gains 
equal knowledge and confers equal benefits upon the 
world, gaining in ease as he gains in knowledge, and 
growing healthier as he grows wiser. 

Many men now, as in the days of St. Paul, may 
exclaim with him, " We glory in tribulation, know- 
ing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience 
experience, and experience hope." It is most true that 
tribulation has wrought patience, and experience 
hope. St. Paul declared then a truth, which may be 
echoed now as truth ; but St. Paul did not, and we 
now need not, announce this as a divine decree, a 



IS SUFFERING NECESSARY i 



215 



universal and inevitable law of God ; for it is just as 
true that there have been among men great patience, 
great experience, and great hope, without the endur- 
ance of great tribulation. 

Whenever men have defined theories of religion to 
maintain, verbal systems to defend, they are in dan- 
ger of giving to every subject a narrow and super- 
ficial examination. They are likely to turn their 
faces and pursue researches in one direction, whilst 
above them, and behind them, and on every side, are 
wonders of truth, as broad and high and everlasting 
as that which engrosses their attention. In fortifying 
theories, we are always in danger of ignoring facts ; 
in speculations on what may be, we usually over- 
look what is ; in supporting a doctrine, we may neg- 
lect a duty ; and by anxiety to establish a possibility, 
we often lose the enjoyment of a grand reality. 

What then ? do you inquire. Am I not attempt- 
ing to demolish some one theory, only to win spoils 
to enrich and adorn some other ? No ! most assuredly 
no ! I have not been avoiding the whirlpool only to 
be dashed upon the rock. Standing on the shore of 
a broad and rapid stream, with sand and soil, and 
shell and rock, and tree and shrub, around me, and 
but a single day to learn something of their nature 
and their uses, and communicate that knowledge, 
should I spend my time and exhaust my strength 
only in heaving my line and lead, to gratify a mor- 
bid curiosity as to whether the sands in the bosom 
of the stream's dark depths correspond with those 
beneath my feet ? 

Speculation up to the acknowledged limits of our 
knowledge is proper, and should be useful ; but too 



216 



IS SUFFERING NECESSARY 



brief, at longest, is human life, to waste it in pro- 
tracted and dreamy conjecturings as to the possible 
origin of suffering, or its possible design. Your 
apologies or mine are unneeded to preserve untar- 
nished the lustre of divine attributes. Our vindica- 
tions of the Deity are wholly gratuitous. The char- 
acter of the Infinite and Supreme, whether for justice 
or for mercy, is not likely to suffer in the absence of 
our defence. Here we are, in the midst of this brief 
passage of existence, with its vicissitude of joys, sor- 
rows, regrets, and anxieties, its learnings and its 
labors. As the world is, the best of us must expe- 
rience our share of goods and evils, disappointments 
and successes, enjoyments and sufferings. Why can 
we not be so truly wise, so truly philosophical, so 
truly Christian, so apostolic and so Christ-like, as to 
accept the world as it is, and, during the brief period 
for which it is our field of action, avail ourselves of 
actual knowledge justly to improve that which is 
obviously within our reach, and gratefully enjoy that 
which we improve, using this world as not abusing 
it ? Man is great, — great in his nature, great in his 
capacities ; his duties are great, and great is the des- 
tiny before him ; yet, withal, he is only relatively 
great. On every side we perceive the confines of 
our knowledge. Ignorant of the hidden forces which 
may every hour combine in the atmosphere around 
us ; unable by our most piercing vision to penetrate 
one inch below the surface of the earth beneath our 
feet ; unable to foresee or distinguish the elements 
of nutriment or destruction, life or death, which we 
inhale in our momentary breathings ; unable to look 
through this thin casement of flesh and read the 



IS SUFFERING NECESSARY ? 217 

heart of a single human being, as to whether it 
throbs with hatred or with love ; unable in our pro- 
foundest wisdom to comprehend the formation of a 
single bud, or leaf, or seed, the most diminutive ; — 
in such comparative ignorance of the very objects, the 
material objects, immediately before our eyes and 
beneath our hands, shall we bring down the Infinite 
Life? Shall we arraign the Creative Power and 
Supreme Disposer before the court of our puny, 
trembling judgment ? Shall we, who cannot see one 
hour before us, — shall we challenge the controlling 
Power which moves myriads of worlds, and judge 
God for his deficiencies, — pronounce to be imperfec- 
tions in God's work, the merest vicissitudes within 
our narrow observation? The instinct of common 
modesty alone would pronounce these the most un- 
reasonable pretensions of a reasonable being. As to 
corporeal suffering, the fact of its existence is unde- 
niable ; but these other facts must also be acknowl- 
edged, namely, that by proper precautions much 
suffering may be averted, and by proper applica- 
tions most suffering may be mitigated, and much of 
it removed. All vindications of Providence, all de- 
fences of Deity, therefore, on the ground of the ne- 
cessity of suffering, are unreasonable, as they are 
gratuitous, alike unbecoming to the philosopher, the 
man, or the Christian. We perceive that the occa- 
sion of suffering is either our ignorance or our sin, 
our want of knowledge or our wilful disregard of 
knowledge, except in case of voluntary pain for 
others' relief, and even then it is disregard. Though 
the proportion of suffering in the world is very small 
to that of enjoyment or the absence of suffering, yet 
19 



218 



IS SUFFERING NECESSARY 



there is enough to enlist our attention for its allevia- 
tion, and both the brevity of human life and the nar- 
row limits of human knowledge forbid all dreamy 
and profitless conjecture as to its possible origin or 
design. By lightning-rods we avert the lightning, 
with the destruction and suffering which it might 
occasion. By precaution we actually avoid much 
disease, and by medicine we actually remove much 
disease and the suffering it brings. These facts, 
then, that suffering may be, to a great extent, avoid- 
ed or alleviated, are those which most concern us, 
which demand all the time and thought and aid, 
which, as moral agents, we have to render. True, 
suffering has its uses ; it sometimes incidentally leads 
to health, and develops character, and elicits virtues. 
So cold winter leads to genial spring, and revival 
follows decay, and life proceeds from death. But it 
would be presumptuous indeed to deny that all the 
good which actually follows human suffering could 
not, in the natural order of Providence, be equally 
effected by other agencies, in the entire absence of 
corporeal pain or mental anguish. It would be as 
reasonable to allege that man cannot enjoy health 
without first a course of sickness, or enjoy food 
without a previous period of starvation ; that man 
could not be innocent or virtuous without first being 
guilty or vicious. We now know something — let 
us diligently study and know more — of the occasions 
of human suffering ; and by enlarging the boundaries 
of our knowledge, by quickening the acuteness of 
our perceptions, by deepening our sympathies and 
stimulating our energies, we may elevate ourselves 
and do much toward accomplishing one of the no- 



IS SUFFERING NECESSARY ? 



219 



blest ends of our individual existence, in ameliorat- 
ing the present condition, and thus increasing eter- 
nally the aggregate happiness, of mankind. In lov- 
ing, we become godlike, for God is love. Blessed 
are the pure in heart ; for pure-heartedness, integrity 
of soul, unoffending conscience, — these alone con- 
stitute now, and shall eternally constitute, that king- 
dom of Heaven in which suffering can achieve no 
victories, for death itself only opens the door to the 
full glory of its infinite riches. 



DISCOURSE XV. 



THOUGHTS CONNECTED WITH THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 
THE OBJECT OE HUMAN LIEE. 

CAN I DISCERN BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL 1 — 2 Samuel xix. 35. 

In meditating on the original design of things, 
and the adaptation of means to ends, the reflecting 
mind is led to inquire whether all that we call evil 
and all that we call good, all we regard as mis- 
fortune and all we regard as prosperity, may not be 
justly described as a matter of knowledge, more or 
less, — all things being good with a true knowledge 
of their capacities and uses, and all evil in propor- 
tion to our want of knowledge and consequent 
misuse of things. 

Does not all past history of human action strongly 
indicate that the object of human life is simply to 
acquire and to improve, and, as we acquire and im- 
prove, to appropriate and enjoy ? Every faculty of 
our human nature, as far as we can discern, is 
adapted to ends which we recognize as good. Why 
then is there not a correspondence between each 
faculty and each one of its operations ? May we 



THE OBJECT OF HUMAN LIFE. 221 

not determine that every instance and degree of 
want of correspondence testifies to the absence of a 
true knowledge of the faculty employed and its true 
uses ? Shall I not, then, by constant observation 
and by protracted experience, enlarge my knowledge 
of each faculty and its adaptations, and by the just 
exercise of every organ, already understood to some 
extent, enlarge its powers and continue to acquire 
and to enlarge, and so fulfil the true design of 
being? Want, sorrow, disappointment, disease, 
death, — these are what we call evils. This much 
ordinary experience has taught us all, ■ — that these 
evils, as we term them, are occasioned or increased 
by our want of knowledge, and in individual cases 
are reduced or diminished in proportion to a com- 
prehensive knowledge of the nature and laws of 
men and things. At least each of these, and every 
form of evil, is magnified to our perception by our 
inability to discover with accuracy how it arises, 
how it makes progress or is sustained, when and 
what will be its termination. The circumstance of 
an individual's birth is one over which he can have 
no control, and yet it is one which, more than any 
other, perhaps, determines all the other events which 
form his character and make up his life, for evil or 
for good. Why one should enter upon life an heir 
to poverty and ignorance, perhaps to the shame and 
disgrace of vicious parents, and another enter upon 
life an heir to affluence and intelligence, and to the 
honor of distinguished and virtuous parents, not 
only affords room for meditation on the varied al- 
lotments of human existence, but occasions fre- 
quent murmurings against the apparent partiality 
19* 



222 



THE OBJECT OF HUMAN LIFE. 



of the creating Power, the ruling Providence. But is 
there here in reality any partiality or favoring of one 
above another ? Is there in the varied allotments of 
life any proof of departure from established condi- 
tions, natural and universal laws of being, — of the 
relations of things? Could we in any given in- 
stance trace up the history of a human being, not 
only through its own but through a parent's life, we 
might discover that whether poverty or disease, suf- 
fering or sorrow, be the apparent evil in the case, 
it is the natural and necessary result of voluntary 
action on the part of some one ; a consequence 
which could not, according to any natural order of 
things, — which could not without a miraculous in- 
terposition of power, — have been averted. Such is 
the essential relation we sustain to each other as so- 
cial beings. To inquire why the Supreme Power 
permits one to begin existence under circumstances 
so different from those under which another begins 
it, — is it not asking why the Creator rules by laws, 
instead of interfering miraculously to rectify each 
particular error, each and every departure from the 
natural order of things ? Is it not asking why it is 
that, when a parent by ignorance, improvidence, or 
habitual vice brings upon himself want, disease, and 
suffering, the Supreme Ruler does not suspend the 
operation of natural law, which connects parent and 
child as social beings, and secure to the child, mi- 
raculously, comfort and health and enjoyment from 
the moment of its birth ? Is it not simply asking 
why God does not destroy the connection between 
cause and consequence ? For we certainly cannot 
conceive of all at birth beginning life under equally 



THE OBJECT OF HUMAN LIFE. 



223 



favorable circumstances, without supposing all par- 
ents to be of like physical and moral qualities, and 
in an exactly similar state both as to temporal and 
spiritual concerns. 

But why permit evil to exist at all ? is probably 
the next inquiry. Is this anything more than asking 
why we are not made machines instead of men, things 
instead of souls, unintelligent instead of rational 
beings ? It is only the possession of will under the 
control of understanding and reason which distin- 
guishes man from the mere animal, and we cannot 
well conceive of a rational being with the exercise of 
free will, yet without the capacity to discern and to 
choose either what we term good or what we term 
evil. God might have made us to vegetate and 
decay like trees, or to crystallize and dissolve like 
minerals, or to form and breathe and die and perish 
like brutes ; but trees, or minerals, or brutes, we 
should then have been, and not men, not souls, — ra- 
tional or accountable beings we could not be. I do 
not affirm that there cannot be rational and account- 
able beings without any power to choose one way 
from another, one thing from another, — without 
power either to know a rule and to act by that rule, 
or to disregard that rule, — without power to perform 
a wrong act as distinct from a right one, to choose 
either evil or good ; but this I affirm, that we cannot 
possibly conceive of such a being, we can form no 
conception of a free, accountable agent, without 
both reason and will to perceive and choose what 
we call right and what we call wrong, what we call 
good and what we call evil. But perhaps you are 
sceptical, in the common acceptation of that term, 



224 



THE OBJECT OF HUMAN LIFE. 



and you like not the term God. You believe there 
is no God because there is evil. Well, you being 
earnest, permit me in like earnestness to inquire, 
and ponder the inquiry with deliberation, What is it 
that you gain, how much clearer is your thought, 
what mystery do you solve, by denying God and 
attributing all to nature ? for we must suppose you 
to exchange God for nature. How much more dis- 
tinct and satisfactory are your apprehensions of evil 
as permitted by nature than as permitted by God ? 
By nature you do not understand intelligence, but 
fate, chance, a fortuitous concurrence of atoms or 
events. Does not the mystery then become doubly 
mysterious ? Can you any better explain this fact 
of one class of beings, human beings, distinct from 
all others, the only rational, accountable, and indefi- 
nitely progressive beings ? Then the evil and the 
good, the endurance and enjoyment, do these be- 
come more explicable than before ? Why should 
nature be thus partial in her gifts and her arrange- 
ments? Why should nature, blind, unintelligent 
nature, thus operate at all, as the fact is undeniable, 
by laws ? How comes connection between cause 
and effect, this stability, uniformity, regularity, this 
distinction between things and beings, between 
various classes of beings? No intelligence, blind 
chance, a fortuitous concurrence of things, — is not 
this the most mysterious of all mysteries, the most 
incomprehensible of all incomprehensibilities ? Is it 
not more terribly wonderful than God himself? 

Still, in inquiring mind, you may return and ask 
how I can tell that the animal creation — what we 
style the inferior orders of being — are wholly irra- 



THE OBJECT OF HUMAN LIFE. 



225 



tional and unaccountable ? With frankness I reply, 
I do not know that the inferior orders of creation are 
wholly destitute of reason and sense of obligation. 
They may have reason, they may have will, they 
may have a law of duty, with capacity to regard or 
disregard; but this much is obvious, namely, that 
between them and man there is a line distinct and 
broad, — a line so uniform, invariable, and universal, 
and, as far as we can see, perpetual, that to account 
for this by chance, by accident, by mere blind force, 
by any fortuitous commotion of unintelligent mat- 
ter, by anything you can call nature, is to exer- 
cise credulity and to defy reason to an extent un- 
equalled by the blind, unquestioning belief of the 
most superstitious devotee of a perverted religion. 
Such a believer in nature may well afford to believe 
in anything, for as to credulity he is unsurpassed by 
the most unscrupulous worshipper of a wholly su- 
pernatural faith. Certainly he has no room for a 
syllable of boasting over Mohammedan, Jew, Ro- 
manist, or Protestant ; for not one iota more of rea- 
son can he furnish for his faith in these operations 
of nature, than can the devoutest religionist on 
earth for his faith in his God, whatever his God 
may be. It is only a change of terms, and the one 
adores nature -with as blind a trust as the Moham- 
medan or the Jew adores Allah or Jehovah. I can 
easily perceive how some, indignant at the follies of 
mankind, and mystified by what are called the evils 
of the world, fearlessly and sincerely deny a God ; 
but the facts of the world and man and life remain, 
and remain the same; so, to be consistent, they 
should deny nature too. Why repudiate God and 



226 



THE OBJECT OF HUMAN LIFE. 



go about to build a temple to an abstraction you 
call nature or law ? No, if on the ground of life and 
its evil you depose God, do not without shadow of 
reason enthrone nature or law, but consistently and 
boldly assert there is no God, no nature, no law. 
Whatever is, is, and whatever is, is right. This is 
the beginning and the end of all we know or can 
know ; and this we do not know, for we are sure of 
nothing and can be sure of nothing. This is the 
only consistent ground for one who denies the exist- 
ence of a Supreme Intelligent Power. 

But to return to the question of the evil of the 
world. Is it not so, that what to one would be en- 
durance, suffering, intense pain, is to another not 
pain, not suffering, not even endurance ? Poverty 
and want, and even disease, and much that we call 
evil, — are not these very different things to different 
persons ? In one case, all of these combined may 
not be an evil, in the sense of causing pain or an- 
guish. In another case, any one of them may be 
a serious evil, producing deep suffering of mind or 
body. Constitution, temperament, habit, and asso- 
ciation determine the character of these circum- 
stances. There is vastly less of actual evil than 
probably any of us suppose, and what are called 
evils, — are they not the soil ofttimes from which the 
sublimest virtues spring, to nourish the truest human 
enjoyment? Who can define evil ? Who can with 
confidence assert that 

" All nature is not art, unknown to thee, 
All chance, direction which thou canst not see, 
All discord, harmony not understood, 
All partial evil, universal good " ? 



THE OBJECT OF HUMAN LIFE. 



227 



"Ask of the learned the way, the learned are blind : 
This bids to serve, and that to shun mankind ; 
Some place the bliss in action, some in ease, 
Those call it pleasure, and contentment these." 

This recalls the question, Are want and disap- 
pointment and disease things necessarily pertain- 
ing to human society, or are they anything more 
than proofs of our imperfect knowledge, our unde- 
veloped faculties? Here we must view the subject 
from another stand-point. In one sense our igno- 
rance itself must be deemed an evil. As being the 
occasion of the evil, it is the evil. In other words, 
we may deem it a misfortune that we do not have 
sufficient knowledge to avoid or obviate the ordi- 
nary ills of life. Yet there must be conflicting forces, 
or we can perceive no moral achievement; there 
must be restraint and obstacles, or we can see no 
ground for exertion ; there must be imperfection, or 
we can see no room for development. But specula- 
tion ceases on this point. These facts are beyond all 
controversy : our nature is but partially developed, — 
there are obstacles to be overcome, exertions must 
be made, — we must acquire, we must advance, we 
must achieve. This is the law, the universal law, 
of life and true enjoyment, and these conditions of 
being can neither be ignored, nor altered, nor de- 
stroyed, whether the author of this law be called 
nature or called God. Here we are brought back 
to the proposition with which we began, that good 
and evil may be only other terms for knowledge 
and a want of knowledge, faculties developed and 
faculties undeveloped, — all things being good with 
a true knowledge of their capacities and uses, and 



228 



THE OBJECT OF HUMAN LIFE. 



all evil in proportion to our want of knowledge, and 
consequent misuse of things, — nothing being evil in 
itself, but evil being only a term descriptive of good 
misunderstood, or good perverted. From which 
proceeds again this other proposition, that, as indi- 
cated by all present observation and all past history 
of human action, the true object of human life is 
simply to develop, acquire, and improve, and, as we 
develop, acquire, and improve, to appropriate and 
enjoy. Our life, therefore, our development, ac- 
quirement, and enjoyment, have no special reference 
to the past, nor any special reference to the future ; 
for these conditions would be unaltered though we 
had no knowledge of the past and no conception of 
the future. I am to seek to-day all just means to 
improve, acquire, appropriate, and enjoy, not that I 
may avoid pain or secure happiness beyond the 
grave, but to live thus to-day because this is the law 
of my being, the true condition of a true life, and 
there is not a single circumstance within the range 
of human wisdom to show me that it would be in 
any wise different, were this day the only day of 
life I should ever have in this or any other world. 
Hell or no hell after death, heaven or no heaven 
after death, this law of improvement and enjoyment 
here, from all that we can possibly discover, is and 
would be absolutely universal, unchanged, and un- 
changeable. Religionists of every name, including 
most Christians of every sect, have made, and still 
represent, the chief ground of duty and chief object 
of life as pertaining to the invisible state beyond 
the present. Yet, with a singular inconsistency, 
many Christians of every sect regard the condition 



THE OBJECT OF HUMAN LIFE. 



229 



of that future state, whether happiness or the re- 
verse, as something which is neither to be avoided, 
averted, bought, bribed, or won, or in any measure 
shunned or obtained, by any act of theirs, by any- 
thing which they can do on earth. They insist that 
the happiness of that state is to be procured, for 
those who shall enjoy it, by some sacrifice, atone- 
ment, arrangement, or plan, devised and executed by 
the Deity himself, so that all — as they appropriate 
certain phraseology to express it — all will be of grace 
and not of works. And still, in the face of this dis- 
dinctly delineated theological device, which is pro- 
claimed and defended continually by thousands, by 
these same defenders all men are daily entreated 
and exhorted with earnestness and zeal to believe 
and perform that which will secure them heaven 
and happiness, and not to believe and perform that 
which will insure them hell and misery in the invis- 
ible world ; — all of those referred to thus seeming to 
agree in these two propositions first : that the great 
object of human life and exertion is, by some means 
or management, to avoid misery and secure heaven 
beyond the grave ; and second, that, by reason of 
their entire sinfulness or helplessness, nothing they 
possibly can do in this life can either obviate the 
one condition or secure the other in the future and 
eternal state. These two clashing propositions, the 
one. completely neutralizing the other, embody the 
sum and substance, the theory and practice, of the 
religion of the greater part of the Christian world. 

And what is the result ? The result, as far as it 
is apparent, is this. The one proposition impresses 
and takes strongest hold on some minds, and the 
20 



230 



THE OBJECT OF HUMAN LIFE. 



other proposition impresses and takes strongest hold 
on other minds. For both cannot be entertained 
and adopted as principles of action by the same 
person. The lives of some, therefore, — those im- 
pressed most deeply with the proposition that the 
grand object of all human exertion is to avoid mis- 
ery and secure heaven, — are characterized by more 
or less effort to correct and improve themselves, in 
view of the great end to be attained finally. While 
as to those most impressed with the other proposition, 
— that by reason of natural sinfulness they are entire- 
ly helpless, either as to avoiding misery or securing 
happiness hereafter, — we may find their lives less 
marked by any moral exertion, development, or prog- 
ress. Having no faith in their own nature, they live 
in conformity, to some extent, with their want of faith. 
But neither of these appear to conceive of develop- 
ment, acquirement, progress, and enjoyment as form- 
ing and comprising the true and complete objects of 
human life, human life including death as part of its 
experience, death not being the end, but only an im- 
portant but natural vicissitude in the life of the soul, 
which life begins not at dissolution, but at birth, or 
when the soul began to be. 

All experience establishes beyond reasonable ques- 
tion, that the conditions of our present existence and 
enjoyment are invariably and universally the same, — 
effort, progress, virtue. Find one whose trials have 
been neither few nor small, one who long has been a 
son of sorrow and has borne a heavy burden, whose 
path in life has been both rough and thorny, — find 
such a son of earth, and comfort him if possible with 
the description of a peace and joy and glory in re- 



THE OBJECT OF HUMAN LIFE. 



231 



serve for him hereafter, — assure him of happiness 
and heaven in the remote and unseen future, — and 
when you have done this, how much will you have 
done to explain the mystery of his present trials ? 
What ray of light will you have shed upon the dim- 
ness of the dusty road which he has travelled ? How 
much will you have done to explain the fact of his 
present suffering, sad, and weary existence ? Either 
to vent his own complainings, or to test the depth of 
your comforting philosophy, he may turn and exclaim, 
in reply to your well-intended consolations : " Peace 
and joy hereafter, do you tell me? happiness and 
heaven my reward beyond the grave? What can you 
mean by this ? There is my nearest neighbor, whose 
sky through life has scarcely ever known a cloud ; sor- 
row has scarcely visited his door, and scarcely a bur- 
den has he been called to bear through all the years 
that he has walked on earth. How then ? are there not 
also peace and joy and glory in reserve for him here- 
after ? Is not his assurance of future heaven and hap- 
piness equal quite to that which you have given me ? " 
How then, tell me, would you answer him ? Where- 
in would be the special value of your consolation ? 
How could you make a future heaven appear in any 
way a reward or compensation for the trials of this 
present earth ? How much would your promises of 
possible and invisible joys reconcile him to his actual 
experience of real sorrows ? Now, I know that men 
do find and take comfort in these hopes of rewards 
and heaven and happiness hereafter, and the fact 
bears witness to the disposition we ever have to em- 
brace and dwell upon even the prospect of a good, 
and to overlook and leave out of sight even a present 



232 



THE OBJECT OF HUMAN LIFE. 



real evil. It bears witness to the affinity of the soul 
for what is bright and promising, rather than for 
what is dark and threatening. Bat it is strange still, 
that mankind have so long been satisfied with this, — 
content to bind up their wounds, and in the hour of 
weakness and helplessness to soothe themselves with 
a sort of selfish dream of glorious rewards or gracious 
gifts bestowed, — of unspeakable and heavenly joys 
in another and unseen world beyond the grave. They 
seem to be content with the philosophy, that 

" Hope springs eternal in tlie human breast ; 
Man never is, but always to be, blest." 

This may be poetry, but it is not truth. The senti- 
ment is as unworthy as it is untrue. Man is — man 
oftentimes is greatly blest, and knows it too; and 
more, O how much more blest might he still be 
than he is ! 

I would detract nothing from the most ardent fancy 
of felicities in a future world. I would cherish the 
clearest convictions of a future heaven, which a firm 
and ever-growing faith can give ; but I would not 
have the strongest convictions concerning the future 
silence my earnest inquiries as to my own present 
welfare. "We wilfully close our eyes, or we must 
see that no theory of an unchangeable hell or heaven 
in the future explains, resolves, and reconciles the 
varied and nameless differences, troubles, and evils 
of this present life. May not the sum of human joys 
on earth be greater? May not the magnitude of 
present evils be diminished, and the number of pres- 
ent evils be reduced ? May not the standard of 
human comfort, and of human aspirations here, be 
elevated? May not the vast aggregate of human 



THE OBJECT OF HUMAN LIFE. 



233 



enjoyment in this present life be greatly, indefi- 
nitely increased ? These are no fanciful inquiries. 
These are questions of deep, direct personal con- 
cern to every human being. And no creed, theory, 
or doctrine concerning a future world should ever 
be permitted to overshadow or drive these ques- 
tions from our earnest thoughts. For surely, by 
elevating the condition of this life, we cannot be 
degrading the condition of that which is to come. 
Surely, by multiplying the true joys of earth, we 
cannot be detracting from the true joys of heaven. 
And when, by submitting to the closest scrutiny all 
the faculties and all the organs of our nature, we find 
each and every one, in common with every object in 
creation round us, adapted to beneficent uses, de- 
signed by nature in every case for good, we are not 
without reason to believe that the mystery of evil 
yet may be explained, and the tears be wiped from 
the cheek of earth's sorrowing children, and the pres- 
ent woes of our world be found only in the records 
of human history. 



20* 



DISCOURSE XVI. 



THE POWER OF MIND. — SOME GREAT THOUGHT. 

AS DYING, AND, BEHOLD, WE LIVE ; AS CHASTENED, AND NOT 
KILLED ; AS SORROWFUL, YET ALWAY REJOICING ; AS 
POOR, YET MAKING MANY RICH; AS HAVING NOTHING. 
AND YET POSSESSING ALL THINGS. — 2 Cor. vL 9, 10. 

" Give me some great thought," were the last 
words of a great author to his weeping friends 
around his bed. And this is what every mind is long- 
ing for, not only in a dying hour, but in every hour 
of weariness, or doubt, or trial, or mental darkness. 
As something to lean on, something to repose on 
for relief, the mind seeks for some great thought ; — 
something which may task the highest powers, draw 
them out, and raise them up above the vexations of the 
hour ; — something which seems to be commensurate 
with the mind itself, corresponding with the soul's 
dignity. When the common cares of life annoy us, 
and seem to draw us down and tie us fast as cap- 
tives to their littleness, do we not feel an indescrib- 
able sense of shame, a sort of degradation, as if in a 
place which is unworthy of us ? We feel as if strug- 
gling to throw off some vast weight, which, in spite 
of ourselves, oppresses us. We feel something within, 



THE POWER OF MIND. 



235 



which tells us we are made for something higher, 
nobler, better, than this which we endure, — which we 
resist, but are unable wholly to repel, There must 
be, I think, times of such consciousness, such expe- 
rience, to all of us. The mind feels itself dishonored 
by submission to these perplexities and trials, and 
yet it sees that submission is inevitable. Still it does 
not see that these painful and prostrating effects are 
wholly inevitable. It has an impression that it may 
live in earth's cares, and yet live above them ; that it 
may move among them, and yet not be of them ; that 
there is an inner life, which, if it may not destroy the 
outer life, may triumph over it. The majesty of the 
mind may assert itself, and declare its supremacy 
over the body and all material things, oyer disap- 
pointment and all contingencies. This is the state 
of mind of which St. Paul speaks, — as dying, yet 
living ; as chastened, not killed ; as sorrowful, yet 
always rejoicing ; as poor, yet making many rich; as 
having nothing, yet possessing all things. 

But what was there in the circumstances of Paul 
explanatory of these paradoxes ? "Who was St. Paul ? 
He was one who had been among the fiercest of the 
Pharisaic Jews. His Jewish piety had led him to 
the most implacable intolerance. And though Jesus 
was himself^ a Jew, and his followers principally 
Jews, yet so entirely obnoxious did he regard Jesus 
as a teacher, so utterly at variance with the Hebrew 
expectation of a Messiah or Deliverer from national 
bondage to Rome, that he persecuted those followers 
with unmitigated severity. He even hired himself 
to the high-priests, that he might obtain the privilege - 
of seizing on all, regardless of age or sex, on the way 



236 



THE POWER OF MIND. 



to the city of Damascus, and bring them down bound 
to Jerusalem, where pretext might be found for their 
punishment. But on his way to Damascus, a mid- 
day vision changed entirely the purposes of the man, 
and the faith which once he would have destroyed 
he now preached. Though the views, principles, and 
object of the man were now changed, his tempera- 
ment, his nature, was unchanged. He was the same 
ardent, fearless, zealous man. He regarded himself 
as the chosen Apostle to the Gentiles, — that is, of 
the heathen nations, Greeks, Romans, and all beneath 
the Roman sway, — rather than as the Apostle to 
the Jews. He brought with him into his new work 
all his native energy and persevering industry. This 
appears in the fact, that he is the writer of full half 
of the New Testament, or more than twice as much 
of it as any other of the writers ; — while no doubt a 
much larger number of his letters were never circu- 
lated beyond the churches to which they were ad- 
dressed, than the whole of those which have been 
transmitted to this day. 

The threatenings and slaughter which it is said 
he breathed out against the disciples were now ex- 
changed for a determined zeal, which led him to 
hazard threatenings and slaughter in defence of what 
he deemed the truth. His ardor supported him 
through every vicissitude, and, as he himself de- 
scribes, he learned both how to be abased and how 
to|abound, how to enjoy and how to suffer need. 
He was in perils by sea, in perils by land, in perils 
among false brethren ; yet through all he was borne 
triumphantly, by a tranquil, trustful, earnest, and 
ever-active spirit. A similar spirit was strikingly 



SOME GREAT THOUGHT. 



237 



manifest in most of his fellow-disciples of the new 
religion. The exigencies of the time demanded such 
a spirit, and the demand was answered. The hos- 
tility of the Hebrew was deep and ardent, while the 
rage of the Roman and Greek was easily aroused. 
To profess interest in the new faith, was to subject 
one's self to privations and afflictions of every form, 
and even to endanger life. Yet feeling assured there 
was something superior to popular approbation, 
something better than bodily comfort or ev#n bodily 
life, — a knowledge of duty discharged, a sense of 
rectitude adhered to, a love of truth, and a life of 
peace within, — they went on, waited on, worked 
on, with cheerful, trustful hearts, which raised them 
above all depression from the appalling perils to 
which they were exposed. This was the condition 
which St. Paul described as dying, yet living ; sor- 
rowful, yet always rejoicing ; poor, yet making many 
rich ; having nothing, yet possessing all things. 

This state of mind was not peculiar to St. Paul, 
nor even to the early Christians. There always have 
been those who by exalted views of duty have cre- 
ated round themselves an atmosphere so inspiring 
and life-giving, as to keep them raised above the de- 
pressions so frequently attending the common dis- 
appointments' and trials of life. Sometimes, indeed, 
the true inspiring principle has been based on unreal 
dangers. Men have shown the highest courage, and 
performed admirable deeds, in order to avert some 
imaginary evil, or to achieve some uncertain good. 
Very much of the privation and suffering heroically 
endured by martyrs to a creed or church, has been 
heroically endured not so much from unwavering 



238 



THE POWER OF MIND. 



attachment to truth, not so much because they felt 
that they must adhere to principle and obey the 
voice of right which spoke within, as because of the 
ultimate evil it might avert from themselves, or the 
approbation it might win from God. It was not 
duty, it was not principle, but it was an honest and 
sincere, though misguided, selfishness. Many of those 
who have devoted and are devoting themselves now 
with earnestness to the work of missions, — who leave 
home and friends, — who, like St. Xavier in India, or 
Father Marquette in our country, bravely encounter 
every form of endurance, — with lofty spirits are car- 
ried on in their zealous work, never wearying in ef- 
fort, never turning back discouraged by small results, 
never sinking under disappointment, resisting and 
repeatedly overcoming hunger,^ thirst, sickness, by 
the force of a determined will, till the exhausted 
corporeal nature can finally resist no longer, and they 
die, — and all, not because they simply, clearly felt it 
to be right, and that they must do right, but because 
of their compassion for souls; — not from a desire to 
enlighten the minds, improve the actual condition, of 
savages and heathens, — to give more elevated views 
of their own nature, and advance them as intellect- 
ual beings, — but simply to save their souls from the 
eternal wrath of God. They see, as they conceive, 
a cursed, fallen, and perishing world. They do not 
stop to answer the Scriptural inquiry, " Can a mor- 
tal man be more just than God ? " but they feel that 
on their feeble efforts, — such is their view of God's 
justice, — on their faint and limited exertions, God 
has made to depend the salvation of many of these 
souls from an eternal misery to which they were 



SOME GREAT THOUGHT. 



239 



doomed from the beginning of the earth, — for ages 
before they had existence. On the mere choice of 
their will, whether they go or stay, these Christian 
men can persuade themselves to believe the alterna- 
tive of eternal happiness or eternal misery to pa- 
gans is suspended. They are more just, they are 
more merciful, than the Infinitely Good, the Author 
of nature ; and away they hasten, and fearlessly do 
they contend and perseveringly labor to save some 
perishing souls from the endless fury of an unrelent- 
ing Deity. In this life, this labor, this sacrifice, suf- 
fering, and premature death, these enthusiasts rejoice. 
By the all-conquering power of will, they rise above 
the fear of ordinary trials. They feel that, though 
poor, they are making others rich ; for they are secur- 
ing to accursed and ignorant pagan souls salvation 
from the ceaseless anger of the Christian's God. 
They feel that, although having nothing, they yet 
possess all things, as being themselves secure of eter- 
nal happiness ; and in their zeal they can despise the 
wealth, power, and distinctions of this life, for they 
possess all things in possessing a triumphant faith in 
themselves as chosen, elect of God. We thus see 
how men can, through the most unreasonable and 
offensive proposition when embraced as a conviction, 
draw out from within a spiritual force, which, like 
strong wings, bears them up above the power of dis- 
appointments, depressions, and pains; and though 
sorrowful for others perishing, yet they are always 
rejoicing in themselves ; though dying, they yet live, 
for they fear not, they defy, death. If such narrow 
and shocking views of the character of God, and des- 
tiny of ignorant and helpless souls, can be made the 



240 



THE POWER OF MIND. 



basis of a sustaining power so great, so inestimable 
to the human mind, what might we reasonably sup- 
pose to be the sustaining, inspiring, life-giving in- 
fluence of a profound, firm trust in the infinite good- 
ness and perfect justice of God, the author and ruler 
of all, and an equally firm trust in the certain value, 
efficiency, and power of every effort on the part of 
man to be right and to do good, — to preserve himself 
from wrong and to promote the purity and progress 
of others ? This trust was the source of St. Paul's 
superiority to the vexations and perplexities of life. 
It was not because he felt that he was more com- 
passionate than the Almighty ; not that he believed 
he would himself do more for souls of Gentiles than 
the Creator of souls would do ; not that he be- 
lieved the eternal destiny of Greeks and Romans to 
depend upon the courage with which he or any 
other should go forth and offer to them a plan, a 
scheme of escape from the universal and eternal 
curse of that Being whom Jesus had taught his fol- 
lowers to call " Our Father." No, not at all. But 
because he became alive to the true dignity of man, 
the inherent power of the human soul, the superiority 
of mind as the representative of God and sovereign 
of earth, and felt it dishonorable in man to bow and 
sink in despondency before the evils and sorrows inci- 
dental to this visible stage of his existence. He was 
conscious of a power within, by which he might en- 
joy a high and serene condition, neither 

" Thrown into tumult, raptured, nor alarmed, 
By aught this scene can threaten or indulge." 

Not that he was to become stoically indifferent to 
the pains, pleasures, joys, sorrows, or sufferings of 



SOME GREAT THOUGHT. 241 

others. This was not the case with St. Paul. The 
many epistles of the New Testament of which he 
was the author, bear abundant witness to his indus- 
try and energy. His superiority to common afflic- 
tions was no fatalism, deadening his zeal, and in its 
tendency destructive of real progress. He was al- 
ways rejoicing, yet he was sorrowful. Like him, we 
are to be sorrowful over the ignorance and selfish- 
ness which dry up the fountains of charity and dis- 
turb the peace of the world, the brotherly fellowship 
of man with man. Like him, it is for us (each in 
his own sphere and in his own way) to exert our- 
selves for the amelioration of society. And, like him, 
we may always rejoice in the unwavering faith, that, 
limited as may be our means, imperfect as may be 
our efforts, imperceptible as may be results, still we 
may do our duty, and the almighty, eternal, and 
beneficent Power who directs and overrules all will 
permit nothing truly good, nothing well intended, to 
be wholly vain, to be entirely lost. Without this 
faith, it is not wonderful that many grow indifferent 
to their own and to the world's condition, it is not 
wonderful that zealous hearts grow languid, and 
eyes, which for a time looked hopefully, come to 
look with coldness and despondency upon the evils 
and trials of this life. In some minds, rejoicing, as 
used by St. Paul, may mean more than he meant. 
It was not designed to signify a self-complacent 
spirit of exultation, resulting from any feeling of 
personal safety or personal superiority. It was no 
outburst or expression of rapture or ecstasy in view 
of an eternal heaven. By rejoicing, St. Paul meant 
an enduring tranquillity of mind, an inward, spiritual 
21 



242 



THE POWER OF MIND. 



repose, a deep, trusting peacefulness, which, though 
more or less disturbed it might be, could never be 
destroyed. But, like the spreading circles caused 
by the momentary agitation of still water, the tran- 
sitory depressions caused by personal endurance 
would soon cease and fade away from sight, and all 
be still and deep and bright again, — the serene 
soul, like the still water, reflecting the eternal bright- 
ness of the stars, or the deep blue sky in sunlight, 
glorious as a smile from the face of God. Such real, 
inward tranquillity is true rejoicing. He who is in 
possession of this mind may in a literal sense be 
poor, yet in a true sense making many rich. "What 
a sad, sad thing it would be, if current coin, or stocks, 
or deeds of real estate, were the only wealth, the 
only things in which a human being could be rich ! 
How few then who could help their fellow-man ! 
how few then who could scatter blessings where 
they go ! But no one need live in himself, no one 
need live for himself. Advice, counsel, comfort, 
encouragement, are often the most precious gifts 
which a human being can bestow. Every one who 
has an eye to look a kind look, every one who has 
a hand to give a friendly grasp, every one who has a 
countenance to wear a smile, every one who has a 
voice to speak comfort or to speak sympathy, to in- 
form, to warn, to instruct, to encourage, — every 
such one, though poor in houses, lands, or coin, 
has a fund of wealth the true worth of which he 
cannot estimate. It is not only inexhaustible, but 
it grows by use, and the more you give away, the 
more you have remaining; every such one may 
make many rich. Nothing is further from my pur- 



SOME GREAT THOUGHT. 



243 



pose than to depreciate the actual need and real 
power of substantial, material wealth, as the means 
of outward comfort, the support of physical life. 
Very far from this. It is one of the trials of those 
who can manage to subsist, and who are yet poor 
in the world's goods, that a word or look, advice or 
encouragement, is frequently all that they have to 
give, while they feel that it does not meet all the 
want, — that more than this is needed. Sentiment 
has its place, but sentiment cannot always supply the 
place of substance. There are times when neither 
sympathy nor advice is needed, but when one feels 
compelled to say : " I see that what you w T ant is not 
counsel, not comfort, but clothing, or food, or a 
home, or the means of providing yourself with them 
by your own labor, and none of these have I to give 
you. You must trust in God, and trust in your own 
exertions to succeed, to live ; and as you best can, 
you must wait and seek for opportunities." Still, 
what sorrow and poverty and unrewarded toil the 
inquiring spirit of our times discloses to us, which 
might be greatly mitigated by inspiring in the minds 
of sufferers a true sense of human dignity, by call- 
ing out the real power of human will, by kindling 
in the soul " some great thought." How many who 
have labored and hoped, and been unceasing in 
their industry, and yet, through defective mental 
training, through injudicious management, or un- 
foreseen contingencies, have been unfortunate, and 
become sad and weary of the world and of life, who 
sink into a listless feeling that they do not care and 
are not cared for, — who neither hope much nor fear 
much, — who look for little better in this life or in any 



244 



THE POWER OF MIND. 



life, — who scarcely think clearly enough to think 
whether there are good men, or whether there is a 
good God or any God, — but who just do what they 
can, and take what they can get, and live on till they 
die ! How many such might be warmed up into en- 
joyment, something more like the existence of a hu- 
man being, less like the existence of an unreasoning 
animal, by remembering some great thought, by 
being made sensible of the majesty of mind, by feel- 
ing that the soul, the spirit-power, the vital, thinking 
man, is not of necessity dependent on externals, — 
that the life of a man does not consist in the abun- 
dance of things which he possesseth ! How many 
widowed mothers and orphan daughters, and, besides 
widows and orphans, those born in lowly life, to toil 
through all their days, — how many such in our large 
cities, who with eyes dimmed by tears in day-time, 
and dimmed by feeble lamplight in night-time, sew 
and sob and work for a mere pittance, which employ- 
ers give them grudgingly, — how many poor weepers 
and workers are there like these, who literally make 
others rich, in whose breasts some great thought 
might be kindled which would burn there perpetu- 
ally, illuminating all their pathway here, down to 
the grave, and even there throwing its rays far over 
into the spirit- world ! 

Even the unfortunate, the poor, who are not closed 
up in cities, confined in dark and narrow rooms, — 
who walk abroad where open skies are over them, 
and fields and hills and forests round them, — even 
these, if intelligent, observing, thoughtful, might yet 
be possessing all things, though having nothing. 
For no earthly proprietor, selfish as he might be or 



SOME GREAT THOUGHT. 245 

might wish to be, can shut up in his enclosures the 
sunbeams and the stars, the hills and streams and 
rocks and trees, and the humblest observer, though 
having them not, can yet appropriate and enjoy 
them all. Yet few, very few, perhaps, even of those 
who live surrounded by this exhaustless wealth of 
nature, truly observe or truly enjoy it. The little 
world of vexations, of small wants and wishes of the 
person, selfish and absorbing passions of the moment, 
contract their vision, blunt their perceptions ; and the 
countless glories round them, soliciting their inspec- 
tion, their admiration, are unheeded. But without 
even the opportunity of observing and enjoying na- 
ture are thousands, who live and die in hovels, garrets, 
and cellars, in all our populous communities, or who 
spend their time on the thronged streets, eagerly 
watching for something to occur to favor them. They 
need to be inspired with some great, elevating, sustain- 
ing thought, with some high resolve, — the power of a 
strong, clear purpose, — a will to maintain their intel- 
lectual sovereignty even in their heaviest misfortune, 
— never to surrender to despair ! But alas ! how diffi- 
cult is it to reach them ! They are kept so constantly 
looking down and thinking how they are to live at 
all, that they rarely look up to seize a glimpse even 
of the pure skies which may be seen from the pave- 
ment of the narrow streets on which they walk. 
Ministers or city missionaries may sometimes search 
some of them out, and give them Bibles, and tell 
them to read, and whisper a word about another 
and a better world than this, — a heaven in which 
they will feel themselves rewarded for all present 
trials. But when do they find time to read the Bible 
21* 



246 



THE POWER OF MIND. 



which is given to them ? Should they open it, their 
eye may fall perchance upon some paradoxical and 
obscure passage, over which for ages theologians 
have wrangled ; and after looking till their eyes 
grow dim, perhaps they feel uncomforted and unim- 
proved, and they lay it away as something which 
does not meet their wants. Then as to heaven, 
even that is a mysterious thing ; for they can see no 
heaven which they are to enjoy which will not be 
equally enjoyed by the good, but fortunate, prosper- 
ous ones, who have never in this life experienced 
their sufferings. No, if possible they must be made 
to feel a divine element within them now, — a will 
not to be crushed and degraded utterly, and a pow- 
er to execute that will ; — a trust in goodness and 
in God now, — not that some time God will be, but 
that God is now, — and that every human spirit is a 
reflection of God, and not a mere motive-power to 
flesh and blood and bones. 

This is what we all require. Sorrow we must 
have, for we are social, sympathetic beings, and can- 
not, if we would, be indifferent to the griefs and 
pains, the disappointments or the joys, of others. 
Yet we may always have a background of rejoi- 
cing, an abiding, inward sense of spiritual dignity, a 
firm trust that what is seen, w T hat is visible, is not 
all of us ; that there is a power, a will, which raises 
us above common depressions, — a power which 
cannot be destroyed. 

Be the legal proprietor or possessor of what we 
may, there are times when sickness, suffering, or 
some great bereavement comes, and the knowledge 
of any possession extrinsic to the mind, the soul, 
the inner man itself, is valueless. We want then 



SOME GREAT THOUGHT. 



247 



the might of a great purpose, — a high resolve 
not to be borne down, not to sink and despond, 
and shut our eyes and see no light. "We want a 
strong will then, to look up and say, " The heav- 
ens are mine " ; to look abroad and say, " The 
earth is mine " ; to feel that, while having noth- 
ing, we are possessing all things; that all things 
are ours, and yet we are above, superior to all things. 
We want a great thought, which lifts up and en- 
larges the soul, as if bringing it closer to its foun- 
tain, to God, that we may adopt and appreciate 
that other saying of St. Paul to the early Christians : 
" Let no man glory in men, for all things are yours ; 
whether the world, or life, or death, or things pres- 
ent, or things to come, all are yours, and ye are 
Christ's, and Christ is God's." None of us are 
without some sense of this majesty of mind. We 
have all felt that "'T is the mind which makes the 
body rich." In times when we have yielded to 
temptation, or sunk under affliction, even at the 
very moment of our weakness, have we not felt an 
inborn dignity of soul reproaching us, and telling of 
a latent power and purpose by which we might 
throw off the burden, and rise up in majesty? 

Let us indulge no vague dreams of reaching every 
soul, even oi our age, and kindling up the divine 
consciousness within it, but resolve to draw out 
more of the soul's power, and live in a higher realm 
ourselves, raising the light of our example to shine 
down upon the. way of others. Living in tran- 
quil self-command, " neither raptured nor alarmed," 
yet active, energetic, subduing selfish passions by 
a lofty purpose, a pure, powerful will, to others let 
us be as 



THE POWER OF MIND. 



" A beacon, shining o'er a stormy sea, 
A cooling fountain in a weary land, 
A green spot on a waste and burning sand, 
A rose that o'er a ruin sheds its bloom, 
A sunbeam smiling o'er the cold, dark tomb." 



DISCOURSE XVII. 



CONFLICTS OF FAITH, — IN THE SOUL AND IN THE 
CHURCH. 

I HAVE FOUGHT A GOOD FIGHT. — 2 Tim. iv. 7. 

In this one, no doubt among the last, of his let- 
ters, Paul's peculiar style and illustrations are ap- 
parent. He is accustomed to represent the Christian 
life — the true life of the man — as a race, a battle, 
in some sense a contest ; and now, near the close of 
his own career of singular vicissitude, he declares, — 
not perhaps in a spirit of exultation, but in a spirit 
of satisfaction, of contentment, — "I have fought a 
good fight." As he now stood near the summit of 
life's mountain, and reviewed the devious and rugged 
path by which he had ascended, he enjoyed the tran- 
quil satisfaction of feeling, that, taking his life as a 
whole, he had, as he elsewhere expresses the same 
idea, come off conqueror. 

One of the best descriptions of human life is that 
in which he presents it as a conflict. It matters lit- 
tle what names some may like or dislike : facts are 
not altered by the names which men choose to give 



250 



CONFLICTS OF FAITH. 



or to withhold. You may call it accident or design, 
chance or law, — you may call it nature, or you may 
call it the appointment of God, — it is none the less 
fact, confirmed by all human history, that improve- 
ment is the result of effort ; that most of what man 
calls good in life is the attendant of exertion ; that 
success is to follow toil. And not only so, but im- 
provement, success, good, even when achieved, are 
only preserved by continued exertion and unwearied 
vigilance. Thus, in an important sense, life, every 
life, is a fight ; and in every case it is, or it is not, 
a good fight. There is, in many, a propensity to in- 
dolence, which shrinks from effort, because it finds 
nothing worth contending for. Possessing an inher- 
itance, or through the abundance and liberality of 
friends, or by some concurrence of happy accidents, 
they contrive to live, — they live on, making no sign, 
and, dying, leave, for good, no mark behind them. 
But it is not only a constitutional or acquired pro- 
pensity to indolence, — it is sometimes a theory 
of life deliberately adopted, which deems nothing 
worth contending for; and so some, adhering to a 
theory, pass through the whole period of existence, 
doing nothing positively, but leaving the effects of 
a sad example. First religious views frequently 
give a gloomy coloring to the whole world. Human 
history then appears but a tale of sorrow or of crime. 
Human destiny appears before their minds in no 
other light than that of a terrific tragedy, and they 
feel themselves to be the sport of a resistless fate. 
They do nothing, or little, but obey the impulses of 
nature, which force them to some activity; and they 
float along like drift on the fluctuating current of 



CONFLICTS OF FAITH. 



251 



events, till by some eddy in the stream of time they 
are abruptly and for ever whirled from sight ; and 
these, like the others, leave no footprints to mark 
the path which they have trodden. These are the 
victims of a blind, unquestioning faith. But there is 
a soured scepticism which tends to the same result. 
Perceiving the abject superstition which controls so 
many, they become suspicious of all belief but be- 
lief in unbelief ; and this belief they accept so heart- 
ily, that they become victims of their own morbid- 
ness, as complete as those of unquestioning belief. 
They keep themselves in as much uneasiness, if not 
wretchedness, by reflecting on the ignorance and fol- 
lies of mankind around them, as the devotee who 
makes himself miserable in contemplating the woful 
destiny of the majority of human kind, and the un- 
certainty which, at times, ho feels to hang around 
his own final fate. Effort, indeed, strenuous effort, is 
not always crowned with what is called success. But 
whatever the measure of success in seeking wealth, 
or knowledge, or power, it is the attendant of exer- 
tion, in the general order of events. This is the 
rule, the law of things, whatever exception there 
may be. A man strives through years, the best 
years of his life, the vigor of his days, for wealth, 
and he obtains wealth, though his passion is apt to 
increase as he acquires, and when some infirmity of 
body or of mind admonishes him, he begins to seek 
enjoyment of what he has procured. But then, per- 
haps, it is too late ; the door of enjoyment has been 
shut; he has lived the creature of habit, and the crea- 
ture of habit he must die. He has fought, but not 
a good fight ; he has been conquered, — shamefully 



252 



CONFLICTS OF FAITH. 



defeated. It is so oftentimes in the strife for power. 
Not content with power, and no small power for 
good, he grasps and stretches forth for more, till he 
loses his balance ; and when the highest point he 
longed for is just within his reach, he falls, worn, 
exhausted, by his protracted exertion. He has con- 
tended, but did not pause in time to conquer. 

It is so with knowledge, — even here, where too 
much knowledge can never be obtained. There is 
a knowledge which is profitable, and there is a search 
for knowledge which is only weariness ; for the com- 
bined experience of the world attests that mere 
speculation, which leaves out of sight our actual life, 
is not the knowledge which is power for good. 
That only which recognizes persons, facts, and things, 
— which studies these, and applies the fruits of that 
study as it goes, — a strife for knowledge guided by 
this rule, is alone successful. 

But nothing is truer, — concerning nothing can 
there be less dispute than this, — that every val- 
uable, every durable attainment, material or spirit- 
ual, intellectual or moral, is a conquest, — in some 
sense an achievement, the result of a good fight. 
We long for peace, but we must " conquer a peace." 
This phrase, as far as I remember, was brought into 
being by certain features of the war from which our 
own government has so recently emerged. However 
peculiar and problematical may have been its use, in 
connection with the events in which it originated, it 
is certainly a very significant and expressive phrase. 

Once, at the rebuilding of the temple, it is said, 
the Jews labored with the sword always at their 
side ; or rather the implement of labor in one hand, 



CONFLICTS OF FAITH, 



253 



and the sword in the other. This represents the at- 
titude morally and spiritually of every man aiming 
at excellence or advancement. We must conquer a 
peace. As society, as the world, is now, — as it has 
been, — it is true in every sense, negatively as well 
as positively, that no man liveth to himself. He is 
born, he grows up, he lives, a social being; and there 
are social influences for evil, no less than good, which 
render his quiescence impossible. Every man, if not 
sensible of, certainly experiences, social tendencies 
which repress and retard his moral growth, and 
which must be met and conquered, or they will con- 
quer. In every man's field of life there are fares 
scattered, by the social organization of which he 
is a part, among the wheat which nature has sown 
with an abundant hand. And there is this differ- 
ence between the individual and society in such 
case. In society they may be allowed to grow to- 
gether till some certain harvest period, but in the 
individual there are certain tendencies which must 
be checked as they appear, — the one must be eradi- 
cated, or the other will be choked. 

There is a state of restlessness, of suspicion, of 
distrust, a stage or phase through which, probably, 
every active and inquiring mind must pass, or in 
which it must^remain. In our day, more especially, 
we see change of personal position, of ecclesias- 
tical relations in the religious world. Of these two, 
the Iloman Catholic and the Protestant divisions 
of Christendom, neither can boast of much re- 
pose. Many Protestants are passing over into the 
Church of Rome, and many in the latter are tak- 
ing their position among Protestants. The former 
22 



254 



CONFLICTS OF FAITH. 



are seeking rest, the latter are seeking for sympathy 
in action. The mistake — if one may venture to 
suggest — the mistake on both sides appears to be, 
that they regard religion as a belief, instead of a life. 
Hence they are searching for the right something 
to be believed, instead of ascertaining the right thing 
to be done. 

Supposing Christianity to be a plan or system 
of faith to be believed, the Protestant is kept in a 
perpetual unrest; for every one of twenty sects or 
churches prescribes to him a different system or faith 
for his belief. Each one of these is plausibly de- 
fended by its advocates, and all the others made to 
appear objectionable and deficient. In this dilemma 
the Protestant becomes vexed and wearied in spirit, 
and he breathes a prayer for relief from this warfare, 
— anything for repose. The Church of Rome offers 
him repose from thought, and all curious question- 
ings, assuming at once and entirely the burden of 
what is called his salvation, that is, his destiny here- 
after and eternally ; and he embraces the offer, and 
for a time at least he finds the repose for which he 
longed, in the splendid ritual and mysterious doc- 
trine of the Roman Catholic Church. He retires 
from the contest of life, satisfied that the fight of 
doctrines and sects is not a good fight ; he hastily con- 
cludes there is no good fight, and the heaven he seeks 
is peace, — relief from mental action. On the other 
hand, many nurtured in the Church of Rome are 
finding her monotonous rites and dead uniformity of 
verbal faith at variance more or less with the count- 
less activities, the material improvements, and the 
social changes of the enlightened world. Every new 



CONFLICTS OF FAITH. 



255 



leaf turned in the great volume of creation — nature 
below and nature above us — is discovering to the 
active mind the Infinite Power and "Wisdom in new 
relations. The old words are insufficient ; the old 
forms, the old ceremonies, can no longer express all 
they see and feel of the Divine, of God. No old 
organization, they feel, can longer contain God's 
greatness, nor constitute itself the only medium of 
divine development ; they seek for greater scope for 
these longings, — for unbounded freedom to their 
intellectual activities; and, hoping for sympathy in 
their spiritual recognitions, they fly from the Romish 
Church into the unfettered air, which stirs the ever- 
moving sea of Protestantism, trusting, unhappily, 
like the others, to find some system of belief answer- 
ing more directly to their special wants. 

These secessions from Protestantism on the one 
side, and from Romanism on the other, direct our 
attention to the two grand classes into which all the 
intelligent of this country and age may be divided ; 
namely, those who, as St. Paul styles it, fight the good 
fight, and those who fight, but do not fight the good 
fight. Than mental tranquillity, peace of mind, 
there is nothing more desirable; but between intel- 
lectual tranquillity and intellectual death, between 
peace of mind and mental deadness, there is an 
immeasurable difference. Pray without ceasing, Re- 
joice evermore, Be diligent in business, — these are 
Christian injunctions, all implying incessant activity. 
Mental inaction is mental death, and to seek rest 
from thought is to seek to be a living dead man. Such 
a rest may be termed faith, but it is a faith which 
stands, or rather waits, ready to worship every Deity 



256 



CONFLICTS OF FAITH. 



which may exalt itself. Every beast and creeping 
thing, and every degrading object, which possesses, or 
seems to possess power, may command the homage 
of such a faith. 

There is another faith, distinct from this, a living 
and active faith, which never wearies. Regarding 
the highest knowledge yet attained by man as but 
the alphabet of truth yet uncomprehended, the truly 
enlightened and hopeful spirit seeks no rest from 
thought, ixo final stage or stopping-place, but finds 
the truest tranquillity in believing that the appar- 
ent imperfections of creation round it are not real 
and inherent, but the evidences of our feeble facul- 
ties, our obtuseness of perception, our narrowness of 
vision. This mind finds rational repose in a firm 
faith, that even on earth, even in this mortal or mate- 
rial life of man, there will yet be developed an extent 
of knowledge, boundless compared with that which 
the wisest living have yet acquired. This faith is 
widely different from that contracted faith which 
builds itself upon some point, and then regards itself 
as the centre of all truth, and bemoans the darkness 
and wickedness of the world, which prevents all the 
moral elements of earth from combining and crys- 
tallizing round this narrow point. The one leads to 
despondency and scepticism. For, waiting long, 
and calling loudly, and praying earnestly, that all 
men may come and see its glory, and recognize its 
authority, this immutable and unprogressive belief, 
finding the world's ears closed, and the world's eyes 
shut, falls into a gloomy despondency. Never doubt- 
ing of its own divinity, never imagining that the 
fault or imperfection may lie within itself, it comes 



CONFLICTS OF FAITH, 



257 



to do nothing but lament the desperate condition 
and woful destiny of a world now lying in wicked- 
ness, and going down to a more miserable and en- 
during fate. Or, what is perhaps equally sad, it 
begins to distrust itself; it continues to doubt ; it per- 
ceives itself in error, and, seeing no fair and reason- 
able path of safety but retracing directly its own 
steps, it reviews the mistakes and follies of its own 
career at every stage, and ultimately contracts a pro- 
pensity to suspicion, which believes nothing satis- 
factorily, examines nothing impartially, concludes 
on nothing deliberately. One by one it shakes off 
every tender and hallowed association, and comes at 
last to believe that all belief is weakness, that all 
men are fools, and all the world's wisdom is folly, 
and lives without hope and without God ; or rather 
makes itself a God, becomes its own deity, its own 
altar, and its own worshipper. Both these condi- 
tions are the legitimate result of a narrow, unchang- 
ing, unadvancing faith, which finds in a creed a rest, 
a cessation of active thought. The victims of this 
gloomy superstition, and those of this soured scep- 
ticism, meet each other on the common ground of 
unhappiness in themselves and despair of mankind. 
Theirs has not been a good fight. See the sad cir- 
cumstances Under which superstition and scepticism 
meet. When the hour of bereavement or the mes- 
sage of death arrives, the imbittered sceptic, who 
had unhappily been led to view the best of his fel- 
low-men with contempt for their ignorance, shuts 
his eyes for the last time, without one gratifying 
hope for the coming time of earth ; for all is chance 
or fate, and what chance has not done in time past, 
22* 



258 



CONFLICTS OF FAITH, 



there is no ground for expecting chance to do in 
time to come. When the same hour comes to the 
victim of superstition, he looks down shivering into 
the cold grave, bewailing the fearful doom of a lost 
world j and even the visions of celestial glory in re- 
serve for him are shaded by the smoke of torment 
and groans of suffering which appear to him to come 
up from the woful abodes of his own lost relatives 
and friends, among the eternally damned. These 
are no mere fancy pictures. The closing scenes in 
many a life too painfully realize them in their worst 
features. 

But there is another faith, as we have seen. This 
faith leads neither to sad superstition nor bitter scep- 
ticism. In local indifference, in temporary disap- 
pointment, it finds only occasion for renewed and 
more persevering exertion. In the moral contest 
with constantly opposing influences, it does not lay 
down its arms, deciding that there is nothing worth 
fighting for, but continues to toil and hope, finding 
in the exercise itself an unceasing enjoyment, and 
reaping, as the proper fruit, a richer harvest of fair 
and well-founded hopes. This striver in life's con- 
flict finds some meaning in that poetic idea which 
describes 

" The web of life as mingled yarn, 
Good and ill together : our virtues would be 
Proud if our faults whipped them not, and our 
Crimes would despair, if they were not 
Cherished by our virtues." 

He who expects to fight a good fight, expects to 
live ever with his armor on. Mere bodily repose, or 
mere mental rest, in a defined and immutable belief, 



CONFLICTS OF FAITH, 



259 



is what he neither finds nor searches for. He finds 
the very aliment of life, the mind's true tranquillity, 
in constant activity for good, in ceaseless aspira- 
tion toward enlarging knowledge and loftier moral 
heights. In time, this indeed becomes the rule and 
habit of his existence. His opposition to what is 
unworthy and inimical to justice and to generosity 
becomes natural and habitual. The atmosphere in 
which he breathes purifies itself from the element of 
storms, and with an active fortitude he moves on, 
and hopes on, in ceaseless conflict, yet increasing 
ease, inspiring a serener air each day ; and as he pass- 
es out through the tomb into that other now unseen 
portion of the life eternal, he looks back as he closes 
the door of the grave behind him, and the last words 
left floating on the mortal air are these of Paul: 
" I have fought a good fight," — "I am ready to de- 
part." It is thus we should all " take the instant 
by the forward top," for it is true that 

" We are old, and on our quickest steps 
The inaudible and noiseless foot of time 
Steals before we can complete them." 

Of these two, the one who fights awhile, but sur- 
renders in the conflict, concluding that there is noth- 
ing worth contending for, and the other who fights 
on to the very end, and passes from the scene with 
the reflection that he has fought a good fight, the 
Roman Catholic Church and the Unitarian Catholic 
Church will long continue the respective symbols. 
The one proposes relief from mental effort, and a 
dreamy, unprogressive rest of unquestioning faith, 
deeming the earth nothing more than a place of 
penitence, and all the world's events as trials or 



260 



CONFLICTS OF FAITH. 



temptations, to be left out of sight in view of the 
repose of the paradise which the Church promises. 
The other proposes constant inquiry and indefatiga- 
ble action. The weapons of moral conflict are to 
be kept bright by continual use. It recognizes the 
universal law by which nature imposes the necessity 
for effort, as the invariable condition of knowledge 
and peace and life itself. It sees that God has or- 
dained that man shall plant for the fruit, and sow 
for the harvest, and dig for the mineral, and dili- 
gently observe to read the language of the varied 
world around and the starry skies above him, and 
that man is thus to labor as he goes, and find rest 
in his labor, making earth but a vestibule or an ante- 
room of heaven. 

Such, on the one hand, is the Roman Church 
Catholic, and such, on the other hand, is the Liberal 
United Church Catholic. In the one or the other 
will each man find his place. There is no neutral 
ground, nor any consistent stopping-place between. 
Those tossed by sectarian disputes, confused and 
troubled and seeking an outward or a nominal rest, 
will embrace the refuge which the Romish Church 
offers them. Those who regard the highest knowl- 
edge yet attained as only rudimental compared with 
that still to be discovered, and who find in the pur- 
suit of wisdom their real enjoyment, — who find true 
peace in constant progress, — will take their place in 
the Unitarian Catholic Church, and will there fight, 
and fight on to the end of life the good fight, 
seeking and desiring no rest but the rest which 
arises from a knowledge of improvement, a sense of 
constant progress. 



CONFLICTS OF FAITH. 



261 



Let us be careful never to lose courage, but keep 
on our journey, each day of life turning over some 
new page of truth for our study, and of beauty for 
our admiration, rejoicing to drink at new fountains, 
from time to time discovered. As we advance, find- 
ing strength in our exercise, and health in our toil, 
and tranquillity in duty, and this life now itself a 
joy, whatever joy in the unseen life may follow this. 
Such are the conflicts of faith in the Church, and 
such are the conflicts of faith in the soul's life. 

Through storm to calm ! and though his thunder-car 
The rumbling tempest drive through earth and sky, 

Good cheer ! good cheer ! that elemental war 
Tells that a blessed healing hour is nigh. 

Through strife to peace ! and though with bristling fronfc 

A thousand frightful deaths encompass thee, 
Good cheer ! good cheer ! brave thou the battle's brunt 

For the peace march and song of victory. 

Through death to life ! and through this vale of tears, 

And through this thistle-field of life, ascend 
To the great home, in that world whose years 

Of bliss unfading, cloudless, know no end. 



DISCOURSE XVIII. 



FUTURE LIFE. — IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



IP A MAN DIE, SHALL HE LIVE AGAIN? — Job xiv. 14. 



This inquiry, regarding it as a direct question 
separate from its context, and from any probable 
opinions of the Hebrew author in whose writing it 
is found, connects itself with all which is important 
in human action. It involves the great question of 
the design of man's existence. What is the grand 
object of human exertion? What are the truest 
motives and incitements to human effort ? For 
what does man live? These are the momentous 
questions which are suggested to all reflecting 
minds by these words from the Hebrew Scriptures. 
The inquiry associates itself with the profoundest 
investigations which have ever engaged the human 
understanding, and with the strangest theories which 
have ever been the fruit of human imagination. 
Among every people who have made any advance 
in the arts of civilized life, wherever the intellect has 
been active and thought has been encouraged, the 
future, the unseen, has been a problem which the 



FUTURE LIFE. 



263 



first and ablest minds have been solicitous to solve. 
It has lost none of its interest to this day. Not only 
have the devotees of every religion, Pagan, Moslem, 
Hebrew, and Christian, had their theories, but every 
sect almost of every religion has had its peculiar 
creed ; and even now among Christians in our most 
enlightened communities scarcely two minds can be 
found to coincide in their views of what we call the 
future life, — though probably a large majority of all, 
within churches and without, have never seriously 
questioned or permitted themselves to entertain a 
doubt as to the existence of that portion of our na- 
ture which we call the soul, beyond the event which 
we call death. But the innumerable variations of 
opinion regarding the condition of the unseen, or, as 
we are all accustomed to express it, spiritual world, 
bear conclusive witness to the mystery in which all 
that relates to the future is involved. Among the 
large majority of Christians, the only point of agree- 
ment which appears as to the future beyond death 
is that it is a state of rewards and punishments, 
while as to the nature and duration of either those 
rewards or punishments there appears scarcely to be 
anything which can be called a uniform or general 
belief. Among the minority, a considerable body of 
Christians make it a chief article of faith that the 
future beyond death is not even a state of rewards 
and punishments, they believing that the New Tes- 
tament Scripture clearly teaches the strict confine- 
ment of all that is meant by rewards and punish- 
ments to this present mortal life, and that the future 
is a state exclusively of everlasting happiness to all 
human souls and all ranks of beings. So that there 



264 



FUTURE LIFE. 



is but this one point concerning which there appears 
to be anything like a universal agreement among 
professed Christians, namely, that there is an exist- 
ence of the human soul after the change called death. 

Still even this does not imply that all Christians 
agree in believing in the necessary immortality of 
the soul, that is to say, the eternal existence of the 
soul in the future. There are some Christians 
believing the future to be a state of retribution, or 
rewards and punishments, who also believe that the 
souls of those who reach a certain point of sinful- 
ness or wilful wrong in this life, and dying so, 
having no power of recovery from a downward and 
destructive tendency, continue in the future to lose 
their moral power, or suffer the loss of one faculty 
after another, till finally there is no more to lose, 
and the soul has literally perished, lost all con- 
scious existence, being no more now than before 
they began to be. This they think justice requires, 
as they can conceive of nothing to be gained either 
to God or to the souls themselves, no reasonable 
end to be accomplished, in preserving souls in an 
eternal existence of suffering or punishment, while 
they conceive that there may be some justice and 
some reason in leaving souls in that life to work out 
their own literal and complete destruction, even as 
in this mortal life men are left free to accomplish 
if they will the literal destruction of their bodily or 
organic life. While unable myself to adopt this 
view, I cannot hesitate to say that in the New Tes- 
tament Scripture there is much more to warrant this 
opinion, than to sustain the common doctrine of in- 
finite arbitrary and eternal misery. For while nei- 



FUTURE LIFE. 



265 



ther of these phrases, eternal happiness or eternal 
misery, is found at all in Scripture, the New Testa- 
ment abounds in the antitheses or contrasting terms, 
life and death, live and destroy, live and perish, life 
and destruction. But the signification of these 
various terms is a mere question of interpretation or 
verbal criticism, which it is not the purpose of this 
Discourse to consider. 

We return to the simple inquiry, If a man die, 
shall he live again ? May the principle or element 
we call the soul be immortal ? Can it have a con- 
scious existence, after dissolution with the decaying 
body ? In view of the great difference of sentiment 
among nominal Christians and among all professed 
believers in a future state, as to the object, nature, 
or conditions of that state, it is not altogether a 
matter of surprise, that some of the most honest and 
earnest minds, applying to the subject some at least 
imperfect analogies, have been led to doubt, and 
sometimes to lose every reason and ground for be- 
lief in, any conscious existence beyond the moment 
of mortal dissolution. They can find no evidence 
sufficient to support a faith in any future life. It is 
an easy matter to talk of wicked unbelief, and to 
indulge in offensive language, to employ such terms 
as heretic, sceptic, infidel, and similar opprobrious 
epithets. But I have never in all my observation 
of discussion and controversy known the first in- 
stance in which any man has been converted from 
his opinions, or convinced of other views, by the 
force of such epithets as these. It is not diffi- 
cult to talk of zeal for the faith, but the value 
of a faith is proved by its fruits, and that is a mis- 
23 



266 



FUTURE LIFE. 



taken zeal, if not a defective faith, which requires 
or justifies abuse or unkindness towards our fellow- 
man. St. Paul's rule for himself is applicable to all 
of us : " All faith and knowledge of all mysteries 
without charity are nothing. Of these three, faith, 
hope, charity, the greatest is charity" Long since 
I have decided, as a rule for my own guidance, that 
any belief which is important enough to be sincerely 
entertained by any reasonable and inquiring human 
mind, is too important for contempt, and is impor- 
tant enough at least for my candid and careful con- 
sideration. Between "discussion and denunciation, 
between kind controversy and coarse condemna- 
tion, there is a wide difference ; may I never be 
so unfortunate as to lose sight of the distinction. In 
approaching this momentous subject, however, I in- 
dulge in no presumptuous expectation that I can 
add much, if anything, to the amount of evidence or 
distinctness of thought which has been elicited in its 
investigation by the most thoughtful and inquiring 
minds among the human family. 

This is one of a few subjects on which I have 
long and often meditated, but have felt like post- 
poning their public discussion to some period of 
less urgent professional duty, when greater leisure 
would afford the opportunity of devoting to them 
the close attention and thorough study to which 
their importance justly entitles them. But feeling 
the subject press upon my mind, since the circum- 
stances of a recent interesting and impressive occa- 
sion in my professional experience, I approach it 
now, even at the hazard of imperfect expression and 
immaturity of thought I have attended the last 



FUTURE LIFE. 



267 



hours and closing scene in the life of one who, after 
long thought and as mach investigation as his op- 
portunities and attainments would permit, deliber- 
ately and sincerely adopted the belief that the cir- 
cumstance of bodily death is the last, the final scene 
in the brief drama of man's existence, and who, firm 
in that belief, expired as calmly as a child falls into 
sleep. Seeing him more perfectly in possession of 
all his faculties than any person I had ever seen in 
a dying hour, more than ready to converse with me, I 
reminded him of some of our previous conversations, 
and within a few minutes of his departure I request- 
ed him, if his views were entirely clear upon the 
subject, now that he was in full view of death, with 
but a few seconds more to breathe, to say whether 
his views and feelings had undergone any change. 
With a feeble but distinct voice he reaffirmed his pe- 
culiar faith. He said : " My mind is perfectly clear on 
that subject. I believe there is no more after death, 
— it is the end. I fear nothing, have no anxiety, and 
nothing to regret; but I would like to live yet for 
them," — as he pointed towards the adjoining room, 
where he heard the sobs of his weeping family. He 
then called the members of his family to his side, 
and with a few words of appropriate advice, and a 
desire that they would remember him, bade them a 
clear and affectionate farewell ; and after a few 
minutes more of slow breathing there was silence, 
and I closed the motionless eyelids which were 
never more to open, and soon after performed the 
last solemn rites over the remains of the departed. 
Greater consciousness and more serenity of mind in 
a dying hour I have never witnessed. Besides this, 



268 



FUTURE LIFE. 



within the range of my acquaintance in this com- 
munity there are several persons of intelligence and 
high respectability, as well as great moral worth, and 
some of them members of established churches 
which regard themselves as evangelical and orthodox, 
who in private conversations with me frankly com- 
municate their inability to believe in the existence 
of the soul after physical death. They either believe 
that death terminates for ever all conscious being, 
both of soul and body, or they see nothing to sus- 
tain a different belief. The consideration of the 
subject, therefore, is not the suggestion of an idle and 
unmeaning curiosity. It is not merely to speculate 
upon a point concerning which there is no real 
diversity of sentiment. The facts now mentioned in- 
vest the question with a deep and peculiar interest. 

It would be most unreasonable to suppose that 
any virtuous person of well-informed and reflecting 
mind could embrace this view of the soul's extinc- 
tion merely from blind, wilful unbelief, or as a cloak 
to cover selfish and wicked aims. Yet such has 
frequently been the assumption of those who defend 
man's spiritual immortality. Even Dr. Young, in 
his well-known " Night Thoughts," stoops to this 
unsound and unworthy argument against the be- 
liever in the spirit's death ; as if disputing a man's 
sincerity, and denying his virtuous purposes, could 
convert him to a belief in immortality. He says : — 

" Eewards and punishments make God adored, 
And hopes and fears give Conscience all her power. 
As in the dying parent dies the child, 
Virtue with Immortality expires. 
Who tells me he denies his soul 's immortal, 
Whate'er his boast, has told me he 's a knave ; 



FUTURE LIFE. 269 

His duty 't is to love himself alone, 
Xor care, though mankind perish, if he smiles. 
"Who thinks erelong the man shall wholly die, 
Is dead already ; naught but brute survives." 

Such assertion as this may do for creeds, or it may 
do for poetry, but we must doubt all testimony, dis- 
trust our very senses, and deny the plainest facts, if 
we admit the truth of such unqualified assumption. 
Such defence of truth is an injury to truth ; for we 
see men whose sincerity and integrity we cannot 
question, any more than we can question our own 
integrity, who yet are unable to find a weight of 
evidence sufficient to convince them of the spirit's 
immortality ; and these are men who are not only 
willing, but anxious, to believe it, and who are rest- 
less and persevering in pursuit of testimony to es- 
tablish what they really desire to be true. 

Is there a future eternity of suffering to be avoided? 
It certainly is as much the interest of one man as 
another to escape such a calamity. Is there a fu- 
ture eternity of happiness to be secured ? It certainly 
is no less the interest of one than of another to se- 
cure such an endless happiness. So that the charge 
of wilful unbelief, as an excuse for mere selfish en- 
joyment, manifestly defeats itself; for the lowest 
motive of self-interest would induce an unprincipled 
man to believe or profess belief in a future existence, 
if by such belief or profession, or desire to believe, 
he could escape so great an evil and secure so great 
a blessing. I would prefer, therefore, to prepare the 
mind of any reasonable and virtuous man for a can- 
did, dispassionate, and unprejudiced consideration 
of the question, by conceding freely to him all the 
sincerity, honor, and integrity which I would claim 
23* 



270 



FUTURE LIFE. 



for myself, in entertaining a very different opinion. 
It becomes me also to be equally candid in admit- 
ting all that is known respecting the opinions which 
have prevailed on this question, at different ages and 
among different nations of the world. 

I am well aware that passages from the Old Tes- 
tament writings are frequently quoted, both in sup- 
port of retributions in a future life and of unlimited 
happiness in that life. I always feel some surprise 
in seeing or hearing this done, by any theologian. 
There is, as far as I have been able to ascertain, very 
little diversity in the views of Biblical scholars of 
all ages and of every church, Protestant and Roman 
Catholic, as to the opinions of the ancient Hebrews, 
and especially of the several writers of the Old Tes- 
tament. Dr. Jahn, the most eminent of Roman 
Catholic critics, speaking of this book of Job, says : 
" The sentiment of Job, who is declared by the Deity 
to have spoken more than the others, was the senti- 
ment of the author, — that good men might be af- 
flicted to the end of life, and that, for inscrutable but 
still equitable causes, God had so determined. It is 
therefore evident that the author was on the point of 
perceiving the doctrine of future rewards and punish- 
ments ; but his views did not penetrate quite so far, 
as neither did the authors of the Psalms, who discuss 
the same subject." Dr. Turner, of the Episcopal 
Church of this country, speaking of a much disputed 
text (xix. 25) in this book of Job, " I know that my 
Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter 
day upon the earth," agrees with others in translat- 
ing it as in reply to the false charges of his friends, 
who pronounced him a wicked man punished for his 



FUTURE LIFE. 



271 



sins. Job answers: "I know that my vindicator 
lives, and ultimately will stand upon the earth; and 
though my skin and body are now wasting away, 
my flesh shall yet be restored, and I shall see God 
(or the goodness of God), in sound health." Dr. 
Turner says, that, " according to the usages of lan- 
guage and the intention of the author, this text can- 
not be explained in reference to the resurrection of 
the dead ; but it expresses Job's wish and hope that 
God would bear testimony to his innocence in the 
present life. It is indeed very possible that Job in- 
tended nothing more than that God would interfere 
to rescue him from the accusations of his calumnia- 
tors, and by some visible manifestation vindicate 
the character of his servant." Such is the view of 
the Episcopalian Dr. Turner. The Roman Catholic 
Dr. Jahn, alluding to a passage in the book of Wis- 
dom, — a book rejected by the Protestants, but in the 
Roman Catholic version, — says : " Wisdom is rec- 
ommended to all, especially to kings, in order that 
they may labor to acquire it with the more earnest- 
ness, in proportion to the facility of securing it, and 
to the abundance of the recompense with which it 
rewards those who seek it. Even if they should 
happen to be oppressed with adversity in the present 
life, yet in the, future, wisdom will render them hap- 
py, while, on the contrary, foolish and wicked men 
are miserable now, and will be more so hereafter. 
This is the first time that a life of happiness or 
misery is expressly mentioned." It is unnecessary 
to multiply citations. It is obvious that none of the 
Old Testament writers refer directly to retribution 
in another life, except this apocryphal writer, who 



272 



FUTURE LIFE. 



wrote at a very late period, probably about or very 
near the time of Jesus, a period at which the opin- 
ions of the Jews had undergone much change, in 
many respects. 

The view of Biblical critics generally is this, — 
that a large class of the ancient Hebrews believed 
in the existence of spirits of the departed, in Sheol, 
or the under-world, but not in a state of reward or 
of punishment, neither misery nor happiness, but 
simply existence in silence and darkness for ever, ap- 
proaching very near to annihilation ; while the Sad- 
ducees, a large sect, prominent, as the New Testa- 
ment shows, even as late as in the time of Jesus, 
were distinguished by their belief that there is no 
existence whatever beyond the tomb, that the soul 
and body die together, and that there is no other 
spiritual being, good or bad, than God himself. 

As to the several Old Testament writers, it is the 
common opinion of theological scholars, that while 
some of them refer to the existence of spirits in 
Sheol, or the under-world, none of them, from Moses 
to Malachi, refer to a future life of retribution, or of 
rewards or punishments ; that none of them allude 
to such future conditions as a motive to right or 
warning from wrong in the present world, but base 
their appeals and exhortations to a right life entirely 
upon the temporal good or evil consequences of hu- 
man action. 

Among the ancient Greeks, Persians, and Ro- 
mans, many of the ablest minds, as Socrates, Plato, 
Zoroaster, Cicero, and Cato, had a belief in the 
continued existence of the soul, a conscious exist- 
ence of man beyond death, as clear and satisfactory 
as that of many now among Christians. 



FUTURE LIFE. 



273 



That St. Paul, who is the principal writer of the 
New Testament, believed and taught the continued 
existence of man's spiritual nature, and the immortal- 
ity of that spiritual nature, there can be no doubt 
whatever. But the various and conflicting interpreta- 
tions of St. Paul's writings, and the theories thence 
inferred as to the conditions and nature of that future 
life, have occasioned, in many minds, a doubt as to 
St. Paul's correctness in teaching any future existence. 
This tendency is not diminished by the fact, that there 
are but a few passages in all that is recorded as the 
teachings of Jesus himself, which are interpreted as 
referring to the future existence of man ; besides the 
fact that none of the Gospel records of the resurrec- 
tion and subsequent completion of the career of Jesus 
mention anything said by him with reference to the 
nature of that unseen condition of the spirit. These 
facts, and especially this one, that as to the nature of 
the invisible life, the locality and condition of spirits, 
though he was a traveller returned from that myste- 
rious bourne, yet not a single recorded syllable is left, 
as uttered by Jesus, subsequent to his resurrection, 
which adds anything whatever to the general sum of 
human knowledge, nothing being established by the 
resurrection beyond this, namely, that man may or 
shall continue, to exist after the circumstance of death, 
— all these combine to leave some minds still in se- 
rious doubt of any existence of the soul beyond the 
event of dissolution. The inquiry therefore remains 
to many in all its magnitude, and mystery, and so- 
lemnity, " If a man die, shall he live again ? " 

Those who earnestly insist upon the inquiry, not 
regarding the New Testament writings as necessa- 



274 



FUTURE LIFE, 



rily conclusive evidence on their own behalf, must 
have the question answered, as it best can be, by the 
voice of nature, of reason, and experience. In this 
light, therefore, entirely apart from Scripture, I pro- 
pose to consider it. The undiminished and profound 
interest with which the question is still propounded, 
by earnest searchers for every ray of truth, entitles it 
to our very gravest consideration. 

Human aspirations now are similar to human 
aspirations in the days of Job. The same sun 
which illumined earth in the time of Zoroaster or 
the Persian Magi, now illumines the same earth on 
which we tread. The same stars which shone in 
silence over the birthplace of Jesus, shine as silently 
upon the birthplace of the child which begins its 
breathing life to-day. Down in the same cold, noise- 
less bed which received the remains of the remotest 
generations, we lay the inanimate remains of the 
wise or great, the low or high, the infant or the sage, 
who ceases to move among us now. 

The variations of human experience are the same 
as in long-past centuries. The last utterance of one 
before the lamp of life expires is a dread apprehen- 
sion of an unspeakably awful calamity, in the un- 
seen sphere he is approaching. The last accents of 
another, as he stands upon the utmost verge of life, 
express an unbounded trust in felicities unutterable 
in a spirit-world of immortality. The last calm as- 
surance of another is that he feels himself passing 
away into the undisturbed repose of a dreamless 
and everlasting sleep. The curtain drops, and our 
mortal vision cannot pierce it, to follow any one of 
them, to test the truthfulness of his convictions or 



FUTURE LIFE. 



275 



the reality of his hopes. It only remains for us to 
interpret the indications which surround us in our 
present complex life. 

We can pursue the inquiry, observing the analogy 
of life, and endeavoring to determine what message 
nature and conscience bring to us, bearing on its 
page the stamp of reason, and in its onward life we 
may yet, in reasonable faith, see 

" The spirit, trace its rising track, 
Even where the farthest heaven had birth ; 
Its eye shall roll, through chaos, back, 
Before creation peopled earth." 

Each one, with the eye of reasonable trust, may 
see enough to say, with a joyful and holy assurance, 
I die, but it is only a part, not all of me, which dies. 

"I die not all, for a myriad things 
That will live and think and do 
Have felt my life in its secret springs, 
And will feel it their being through. 

" We die not all : we shall live on earth 
In the words and deeds of the past, 
And death to the soul is a glorious birth, 
Where no seeds of decay are cast." 

Mathematical demonstration cannot be expected. 
I cannot prove to you the existence of God. I can- 
not even prove to you my own present existence, 
and not any more can I prove the soul's continued 
existence after dissolution. But the closer the ex- 
amination, the clearer does it seem to me that each 
one of these propositions — the existence of God, 
the soul's existence now, and its continued existence 
beyond the change of death — is equally susceptible 
of illustration or proof, amounting to a moral cer- 
tainty, — a certainty investing death with no dread, 



276 



FUTURE LIFE. 



and the grave with no gloom, but an impression 
which fills the mind with the serene vision of soft- 
ened splendors, — 

"Like light through summer foliage. 
Shedding a glow of such mild hue, 
So warm and yet so shadowy too, 
As makes the very darkness there 
More beautiful than light elsewhere." 



DISCOUESE XIX, 



FUTURE LIFE. — IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

IF A MAN DIE, SHALL HE LIVE AGAIN? — Job xiv. 14. 

" Can storied urn or animated bust 

Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath ? 
Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust, 
Or flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of death ? " 

" For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, 

This pleasing, anxious being e'er resigned, 
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, 
Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind ? " 

So instantaneous and complete is the transition 
at death from the known and seen to the unknown 
and unseen, from warm, intelligent life to cold, dull 
deadness, that no one can be entirely indifferent to 
the possibilities of the invisible. Though no testi- 
mony may be found sufficiently weighty and con- 
clusive to convince some minds of the reality of any 
existence beyond that which is seen and certain, yet 
no one can be supposed to leave the warm light of 
present being without casting one longing, lingering 
look behind. 

Aside from the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, 
24 



278 



FUTURE LIFE. 



we have no other resources of knowledge on this great, 
subject than those common to the more enlightened 
among the ancients, the pages of nature, experience, 
and consciousness interpreted by the light of reason. 
We have found that Christian critics of every name 
appear to coincide in the opinion, that the Hebrew 
Scriptures furnish no explicit revelation, nor even 
any direct statement, as to the immortality of the 
human soul. We also have found that among the 
men who now inquire, in the spirit of the ancient 
Hebrew, " If a man die, shall he live again ? " there 
are those by whom the teachings of St. Paul and 
the New Testament writers are not regarded as dis- 
tinct, authoritative, or final. It is probably the nu- 
merous and conflicting expositions of the Christian 
writings which have induced many to lay the New 
Testament entirely aside, as a witness on this ques- 
tion of futurity ; and it is neither just, manly, nor 
philosophical to turn away from such, bestowing on 
them the ungracious epithet of sceptic or unbeliever. 
This will neither convert them, nor establish truth. 
It was in no such scornful spirit that Paul reasoned 
with Felix, proving all things, and holding fast the 
good. As we are not permitted by the objector to 
cite the New Testament as conclusive authority, 
the question obviously becomes one of probabilities. 
Are the probabilities opposing greater than the 
probabilities favoring a continued existence of man's 
spiritual nature ? 

One of the objections urged with greatest force is 
the apparent decay of mind simultaneously with the 
decay of body, or sometimes previous to physical 
decay. To say the most of this, it is only a pre- 



FUTURE LIFE. 



279 



sumptive argument. It is true that instances occur 
in which each mental power appears to decline, suc- 
cessively, before there is much physical declension. 
But instances of the reverse are probably more fre- 
quent, — each bodily organ weakening, till, in a state 
of almost utter helplessness, the mind seems preter- 
naturally vivid, sound, and active, as in most perfect 
health. One limb after another, foot, hand, arm, 
may be amputated, and even eyesight lost, nothing, 
perhaps, but the diseased trunk and mutilated head 
remaining, and still the mental powers all appear 
undiminished, if not invigorated. The simultaneous 
decay of mind and body, therefore, in a minority, or, 
if it were so, even in a majority of cases, could be 
nothing like evidence against the continued exist- 
ence of the spiritual element or essence. Nothing 
but a universal occurrence of the mutual decline of 
bodily and mental powers could be anything like 
proof of the mind's destruction. The probabilities 
are all the other way. Moreover, the frequent re- 
covery of mental power after the restoration of dis- 
ordered bodily organs, is a strong presumption in 
favor of the idea, that to our feeble perceptions, the 
mind expressing itself only through the agency of 
visible bodily organs, the derangement of those 
bodily organs renders them more or less unsuited to 
the uses of the mind, and the mind only ceases to 
employ them, — the mind still existing in undimin- 
ished force. The body may be only the instrument 
of wonderful and complicated structure, through 
which the spirit expresses itself to our present im- 
perfect and limited observation. Therefore, as by 
disease or violence one bodily organ after another is 



280 



FUTURE LIFE. 



disordered, the spirit ceases to employ its agency, 
but acts by invisible agencies, while, a general de- 
rangement and debility of the physical system ren- 
dering it wholly unfit for the agency of mind, the 
mind withdraws from it entirely ; and this is what 
we call death. 

We detect some intimations of this relative con- 
nection of mind and body in our sleeping life. The 
body becomes passive, powerless, unconscious of the 
presence of any object, good or evil, while at the 
same moment, in a dream-life, the mind is active 
still as ever, if not even more vivid than when ex- 
pressing itself through the bodily organs. "When 
the physical lethargy wears off, and the body re- 
sumes its activity, one mental power, that of mem- 
ory, still preserves and reports the dream-life, and 
we recall the fair skies, and beautiful lands, and 
lovely scenes, and rich enjoyments, which were ours 
in a brief hour of that life, — in which we traversed 
continents, and crossed oceans, and saw myriads of 
strangers, and heard myriads of voices, from storms 
and thunders to the soft melody of entrancing mu- 
sic. As to the enjoyment this affords, it is as much 
a real part of our experience as the most obvious 
realities in the routine of our daily lives. - 

Do not these phenomena of our sleeping life afford 
us some presumption in favor of the idea, that the 
mind is not necessarily dependent on the use of 
bodily organs, that the mind's ceasing to express it- 
self through parts of the physical system is no evi- 
dence of the mind's destruction, and that the cessa- 
tion of life in the body does not prove the cessation 
of the mind's or soul's existence ? 



FUTURE LIFE, 



281 



This argument from the integrity of mind, despite 
the feebleness of body, was not forgotten as I re= 
Gently sat by the dying man to whom I before re- 
ferred, who saw nothing but the depths of eternal 
sleep from the verge of mortality. The clearness 
and soundness of his mind, a few minutes before the 
close of life, — when the hand could no longer raise 
itself to the parched lips. — almost induced me to 
ask him if the argument had no weight in his mind; 
but I forbore. I feared the result of the effort it might 
give him to reply, and I felt that it was useless to 
attempt to disturb the repose which he had just ex- 
pressed, in his most sincere conviction that the soul 
is mortal, as the body, and ceases all consciousness 
for ever. 

Another objection to the continued existence of 
the soul is the apparent fact of its growth and de- 
velopment coeval with the body. It begins with the 
body in infancy, says the objector, it grows and is 
cultivated with the growth of the body, and is so 
necessarily connected with it, that with the body it 
expires. This seems to me the only formidable ob- 
jection which is raised, and I admit that it is not 
without some force. Yet its force appears to be fully 
met by the comparative, the earthly immortality of 
the fruits or products of the mind. Is it possible that 
the mind creates that which is so infinitely superior to 
itself, as to survive it ages upon ages, indefinitely ? 
Is the creature of mind greater than the creative 
mind itself? See the sculptured marble, the splen- 
did and life-like painting, the immense and magnifi- 
cent monuments of architectural design, — have all 
these survived the spirit which created them, which 
24* 



282 



FUTURE LIFE. 



gave them their enduring form and beauty ? Here 
are the very thoughts of the wise and great come 
down to us through hundreds and thousands of years. 
Here this day on the written page are " thoughts 
that breathe and words that burn," from Caesar and 
Socrates, and Cicero and Plato, and Homer and 
"Virgil, and Zoroaster and Confucius, come down to 
us from China and Persia, and Rome and Greece, 
by which we are moved to reflection, to action, to 
emotion, perhaps to tears. We enjoy a communion 
with them ; we feel that they speak to us, and to 
our living spiritual sight they are before us. We 
behold their forms, we hear their voices, we know 
their thoughts ; our hearts swell within us, and ages 
and centuries, and thousands of years, vanish away, 
like mist, before the divine magnetism of spiritual 
sympathy. There seems to be a transfusion of 
their spirits through the medium of the written 
page, and our hearts bow before them to do them 
reverence. And is it all a dream ? Are their very 
words and thoughts still here, almost eternal like 
the stars, and are they themselves in darkness and 
silence, dead and senseless as the dust of then- 
decaying frames, which centuries since has floated 
in the " viewless winds," or been petrified in the 
deep mountain rock ? The thought seems to in- 
volve impossibility. Xenophon might well say: 
" When I consider the boundless activity of our 
minds, the remembrance of things past, our foresight 
of what is to come, — when I reflect on the noble 
discoveries and vast improvements by which those 
minds have advanced arts and sciences, — I am en- 
tirely persuaded, and out of all doubt, that a nature 



FUTURE LIFE. 



283 



which has in itself a fund of so many excellent 
things cannot possibly be mortal." But may not 
this objection to the continued existence of the soul 
be converted into an argument in support of the 
spirit's immortality? On the very principle of its 
development and growth, may death be anything 
more than an event in its progress, similar to a new 
birth into a larger life? This idea is vividly and 
beautifully expressed in the brief sonnet of Blanco 
White, which Coleridge is said to have pronounced 
"the most grandly conceived in the English lan- 
guage." The words are these : — 

" Mysterious Night ! when our first parent knew 
Thee, from report divine, and heard thy name, 
Did he not tremble for this lovely frame, 
This glorious canopy of light and blue ? 
Yet, 'neath a curtain of translucent dew, 
Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame, 
Hesperus with the host of heaven came, 
And lo ! creation widened in man's view. 
Who could have thought such darkness lay concealed 
Within thy beams, O Sun ! or who could find, 
Whilst fly, and leaf, and insect stood revealed, 
That to such countless orbs thou mad'st us blind % 
Why do we then shun death, with anxious strife ? 
If light can thus deceive, wherefore not life ? " 

A most forcible reply this exquisite illustration 
offers to the objection, that we discern nothing, there 
is nothing positively seen by us, beyond the curtain 
which death drops between us and the spirits we 
have known and loved. Imagine a first-formed 
man, gazing in deep, unutterable delight upon the 
varied splendors of mountain, stream, field, forest, 
moving beast, and flying bird, — the pebble, the 
flower, the leaf, the insect, and a thousand beauties 



284 



FUTURE LIFE. 



which stood revealed to his own wondrous and won- 
dering eye, all canopied by the lovely deep blue 
heavens. How well might his visage change, and 
his frame tremble, as the revolving sphere for the 
first time rolled round towards darkness, and a heavy 
shadow gathered over all the countless forms of 
earth, robbing them of all their brilliancy and wrap- 
ping all in sombre blackness ! In awe, in agony, he 
might have thus soliloquized, " And is this all? Is 
this the end ? A day so brilliant and so brief, and 
now silence, death, unbroken night! O mysterious 
existence! so tantalizing, so deceiving ! " But even 
as he murmurs, lo ! a thousand sparkling lights 
break forth upon his upward gaze, and what he 
thought the loss of one world below was but the 
revelation of a myriad of worlds above. The glaring 
light, which had disclosed the minuteness of objects 
at his feet, had blinded him to the grandeur and 
majesty of innumerable spheres. Who could have 
thought that such darkness lay concealed within the 
bright beams of the noonday sun, dazzling the fee- 
ble eye, and excluding rays from a throng of greater 
and more distant orbs ! 

" If light can thus deceive, wherefore not life ? " 

Why with so much dread shun death ? May not 
this brief glare of life only hide from the spirit's eye 
ten thousand greater glories, and death be only 
the vicissitude which shall widen creation in man's 
view, disclosing to the liberated soul the grand re- 
alities now hidden from our imperfect, immature, 
and undeveloped spiritual powers, and while the de- 
caying frame sinks back to its kindred earth, the 



FUTURE LIFE. 



285 



immortal principle, the divine element, rise into the 
realm of an eternal progress ? We see how well said 
and true it is that 

"Man makes a death which nature never made, 
Then falls on the point of his own fancy, 
And feels a thousand deaths in fearing one." 

Recent casualties on the great waters of our coun- 
try have been greatly destructive of human life. 
Now twenty, now a hundred, now three hundred, 
beings have been swept almost instantaneously from 
the midst of activity and health into silence and 
death, with the deep lake or the flowing stream for 
their last sepulchre.* 

In those hundreds of minds, what thoughts were 
cherished! In the minds of young and aged, the 
enlightened and the good, what plans, purposes, 
hopes, and aspirations were indulged ! What re- 
sources of knowledge, courage, purity, and love 
were there ! Is it possible that all these resources, 
and virtues, and minds, perished in an hour for ever 
and entirely ? Alluding to a similar disaster some 
years since, (the burning of the Lexington on Long 
Island Sound, in 1840,) and having referred to some 
of the distinguished, enlightened, and worthy persons 
whose mortal career was finished there, a living au- 
thor asks, with force : " Does any one believe that 
this freight of transcendent worth, all this sorrow, 
and thought, and hope, and moral greatness, and 
pure affection, was burnt and went out with flame 
and cotton smoke? Sooner would I believe that 



* Allusion is here made to the loss of the Atlantic on Lake Erie, 
the Franklin on the Mississippi, and the Henry Clay and the Keindeer 
on the Hudson. 



286 



FUTURE LIFE. 



the fire consumed the less everlasting stars! Such a 
galaxy of spiritual light and order and beauty is 
spread above the elements and their powers, and 
neither heat can scorch it, nor cold water drown. 
The bleak wind which swept in the morning over 
the black and heaving wreck, would moan in the ear 
of sympathy with the wail of a thousand survivors ; 
but to the ear of wisdom and of faith would sound 
as the returning whisper and requiem of hope." He 
is not then suggesting a mere fancy, he is not ex- 
pressing a groundless hope, who says that "the cor- 
poreal frame is but the mechanism for making 
thoughts and affections apparent, the signal-house 
with which God has covered us, the electric tele- 
graph by which quickest intimation flies abroad of 
the spiritual force within us. The instrument may 
be broken, the dial-plate effaced ; and though the hid- 
den artist can make no more signs, he may be rich 
as ever in the things signified. Fever may fire the 
pulses of the body, but wisdom and sanctity cannot 
sicken, be inflamed, and die." 

Now, as a question of probabilities, let the candid 
and reflecting answer, if the probabilities are not 
largely against the simultaneous death of the hu- 
man body and the human soul, — against the de- 
struction of the mind of man. 

We see that among all people, civilized and sav- 
age, wheresoever we can reach the minds of the 
great body of the thinking class, there is an impres- 
sion more or less distinct of the capacity of man's 
higher nature, his vital force or intangible powers, 
for a continued existence after the decay of the out- 
ward man. Pope justly describes the aspiration of 
the untaught native of our Western world : — 



FUTURE LIFE. 



287 



"Lo, the poor Indian ! whose untutored mind 
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind ; 
His soul proud science never taught to stray- 
Far as the solar walk or Milky Way ; 
Yet, simple nature to his hope has given, 
Behind the cloud-topt hill, an humhlcr heaven ; 
Some safer world, in depth of woods embraced, 
Some happier island in the watery waste. 
To be, contents his natural desire ; 
He asks no angel's wings, no seraph's fire ; 
But thinks, admitted to that equal sky, 
His faithful dog shall bear him company." 

This fancy of the untutored child of nature is 
only an intimation of the universal aspiration after 
a more complete and satisfactory existence than 
that which thus far in earth's history has belonged 
to the mortal man. All admit that this desire for a 
higher and more enduring state is reasonable ; all 
admit that there is an imperfection or immaturity 
about this state, which renders a continued life de- 
sirable; and all admit that no natural impossibility 
of such futurity can be proved. 

It is only that some minds sincerely doubt; they 
seek conviction by more positive, if possible by con- 
clusive evidence. We have considered the objection 
based on the apparent decay of mind or soul at the 
same time with decay of body. But we see this 
more than overbalanced, in the fact that the mind, in 
more numerous instances, retains its vigor, and even 
develops and acquires, while the body obviously de* 
clines ; and even in the moments of dissolution, when 
the body is almost incapable of affording any expres- 
sion to the mind, every faculty remains full and 
sound till the very event of dissolution. We see it 
also answered in our dream-life, the most active 



288 



FUTURE LIFE. 



portion of the spirit's being, while it does not em- 
ploy the body as its medium of expression, but by a 
faculty of soul the memory subsequently reports to 
the waking body the active experience of the spirit 
while the body slept. We have considered the ob- 
jection based on the growth and expansion of the 
spirit in connection with the body. But we see this 
overbalanced by the immortality of the work of mind. 
The acts, the thoughts, the very motives and impulses, 
of great and good minds who lived centuries and 
ages since, address us and move us now, awakening 
admiration of the great, abhorrence of the mean, 
eliciting our sympathies, and kindling us to action. 
Can the thoughts of mind survive the mind itself? 
Can the less produce the greater ? Can the creature 
survive the creator? Can the soul, which acts 
strongly for an hour and perishes for ever, produce 
effects which live for countless generations ? Is not 
the probability immensely greater, that the mind it- 
self, though no longer directly manifest through visible 
mediums, still exists, in a progressive life ? The ob- 
jection that we cannot follow the soul with our cor- 
poreal senses, and positively see some reality beyond 
death, loses all its force, when we see the analogy of 
nature, in which the brilliancy of sunlight, which 
discloses the minutiae of this one world around us, 
actually excludes from our view countless orbs, and 
more glorious worlds, in the remoter realms of the 
universe, — worlds grander than the sun itself. 

In this age and land of intellectual energy, when 
the expansiveness, progressiveness, and unlimited 
capacity of mind are so morally demonstrable, it 
does appear to me that no mind could well desire, 



FUTURE LIFE. 



2S9 



or seek to prove true, the simultaneous destruction of 
body and soul, — a proposition so at variance with 
memory, which carries up the past into the present, 
and imagination, which brings the future to the pres- 
ent, and reason, which dignifies and distinguishes 
man by standing in the present and reconciling 
with it both the future and the past. Would any 
desire to prove true the extinction of these powers 
of mind, if it were not that they feel oppressed by 
the severities of superstition, and feel it better the 
soul should die, than live the unreasonable future 
life defined by the unwarrantable dogmatism of 
church theologies ? Death is natural as birth, and 
should be as little the cause of apprehension or of 
dread. But men feel it were better the soul should 
die for ever; than live here in servile bondage to the 
perpetual " dread of something after death.-' The 
great poet-master of our language represents this ap- 
prehensiveness in those well-remembered words : — 

" Ay, but to die, and go we know not where ; 
To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot ; 
This sensible warm motion to become 
A kneaded clod ; and the delighted spirit, 
To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside 
In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice ; 
To be imprisoned in the viewless winds, 
And blown with restless violence round about 
The pendent world ; or to be worse than worst 
Of those that lawless and uncertain thoughts 
Imagine howling ! — 't is too horrible ! 
The weariest and most loathed worldly life, 
That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment 
Can lay on nature, is a paradise 
To what we fear of death." 

Yes, to what we fear of death, and not to death 
itself. Are not these vague, unwarrantable theories, 



290 



FUTURE LIFE. 



— for they are all theories of what lies after death, — 
are not these the occasion of most or all the inclina- 
tion to disprove the immortality of the soul, the con- 
tinued existence of the human spirit? 

Thus far we have considered the question apart 
from all theologies and all church systems, and we 
shall continue so to consider it in the Discourse with 
which we will conclude the more direct reply to the 
inquiry, " If a man die, shall he live again ? " In that 
Discourse I will present an argument which to me 
appears direct and forcible, and with that argument 
I will submit this momentous subject to your heart 
and to your judgment. 



DISCOURSE XX. 



FUTURE LIFE. — IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

IF A MAN DIE, SHALL HE LIVE AGAIN ? — Job xiv. 14. 

In considering, on former occasions, the prevail- 
ing doctrine of rewards and punishments, I have ob- 
jected to the doctrine of one unchangeable state of 
eternal happiness and one unchangeable state of 
eternal misery, that it cannot account for, and is 
irreconcilable with, the countless natural differences 
and moral inequalities of this mortal state. 

If this existence be preparatory to an immutable 
state of happiness and an immutable state of misery, 
into one or the other of which every soul at death 
must pass, then the clearest dictate of reason, and 
the only idea of strictest justice, imperatively require 
that all human beings should enter upon responsi- 
ble existence with precisely equal capacities and 
exactly similar opportunities, — that every soul, start- 
ing from the same point, might fairly and justly, in 
the exercise of moral freedom, entitle itself to the 
one condition of eternal enjoyment, or subject itself 
to the other condition of eternal suffering. Such a 



292 



FUTURE LIFE. 



theory of future rewards and punishments of neces- 
sity requires the suspension of the naturaMaw which 
connects parent with child, and brings every one of 
a million of human souls into being under circum- 
stances so widely dissimilar. One begins responsi- 
ble action amid the comforts of affluence, another 
amid the discomforts of deepest poverty ; one amid 
intelligence and refinement, another amid rudeness 
and the grossest ignorance ; one with a system fair 
and healthy, another with a system deformed and 
diseased ; one with intellect vigorous and active, 
another with intellect feeble and sluggish ; one from 
the first moment to develop under the most salu- 
tary influences, another from the first moment to 
develop under the most pernicious examples. Now 
all these differences strict justice requires should be 
completely obviated by miraculous power, if every 
soul is to procure for itself one of two fixed and eter- 
nally contrasting conditions from the hour of death. 

Supposing two such unchangeable states, into one 
or the other of which all souls do actually pass, there 
is, manifestly, the most arbitrary, partial, and cruelly 
unjust arrangement in the present allotments of hu- 
man life ; for, as far as we can determine, no two 
of all the throngs of human souls begin their moral 
being with exactly equal capacities, and, in all re- 
spects, equally favorable opportunities. Moreover, 
as we see, an immense proportion of souls leave this 
life before reaching any sense of responsibility. 
Now, in either case, whether these innumerable in- 
fant souls are all removed to the eternally blessed 
or the eternally cursed condition, it is equally unjust 
to those who survive ; for either all should be brought 



FUTURE LIFE. 



293 



with equal powers to a period of responsible action 
or moral probation, or all should be transferred be- 
fore the period of moral agency to the same eternal 
state, and not a large proportion left to linger out 
this life, exposed to perils, to the danger of ruining 
themselves and insuring their own perdition. To 
me this appears an argument of resistless force 
against the doctrine, that this life is a probationary 
state for an unchangeable future heaven, or an un- 
changeable future hell. 

Such a final allotment of human souls leaves the 
endless vicissitudes of this present life involved in 
inexplicable disorder, and wrapped in impenetrable 
gloom. We can see nothing but an arbitrary power 
forcing us irresistibly into a confused, mysterious, 
often uncertain and miserable existence, and then, 
whether permitted to remain till childhood, or youth, 
or manhood, or old age, at once checking all the or- 
dinary laws of our being, and by a supernatural 
force, at death, transferring us at once into unspeak- 
able and endless bliss, or into unutterable and end- 
less woe. 

Now what I desire you to perceive is this, — that 
this argument from the varied allotments of our 
present life, against such an unchangeable destiny 
of death, operates with all its tremendous moral force 
against the doctrine of the destruction of the soul at 
the same time with the death of the body. 

Is death to the body death also to the soul ? 
Then this mortal life is our eternal life ; for it is all 
our life, and is as arbitrary, partial, and unjust, as 
the prevailing view of immutable happiness and im- 
mutable suffering hereafter. No soul has the choice 
25* 



294 



FUTURE LIFE. 



of its birthplace, or of the circumstances under which 
it begins its active being. No soul has choice of its 
parents, its companions, or the good or evil influences 
which first surround it, and give direction to its char- 
acter. Go to the back streets and narrow alleys in 
hundreds of our crowded cities, in the very centres of 
our Christian civilization, and there, in the polluted 
atmosphere of low cellars and filthy corners, you find 
hundreds of souls brought into being, who are born 
to poverty, ignorance, vice, crime, and moral dead- 
ness. The first dawnings of their intellect are 
watched by the degraded and corrupt, to poison and 
to brutalize. From infancy to childhood, to youth, 
to manhood, to old age, they pass, the victims of a 
thousand influences, which, like coils of a deadly ser- 
pent, tighten round them every moment. Fostered 
and unguided passion becomes habit, and forges 
chains stronger than steel around them, and with no 
helping hand to release them, no pure love to revive 
their fainting virtue, no kind voice to rekindle their 
expiring moral courage, or to point them to any bow 
of promise, or any star of hope, they die, — neglected 
in miserable dens, or amid diseased wrecks of hu- 
manity in crowded hospitals, or amid wretched crim- 
inals in dismal prisons. Now can it be, — is this 
death their end ? Do these souls sink into the si- 
lence of eternal night ? Is the divine spark which 
struggled and flickered amidst noxious vapors here, 
eternally extinguished ? To conceive of this, — is it 
not to thrust God from the universe, and leave all to 
the incalculable chances of unintelligent fate, and 
blind, lawless forces of soulless matter ? 

How could a Supreme Intelligence of infinite per- 



FUTURE LIFE. 



295 



fection thus mock and tantalize and trifle with his 
creatures, such as we see they are, — making them 
half human, half divine, with bodies bound to earth, 
but spirits, like caged birds, yearning, struggling, to- 
wards the skies ? Would God implant boundless 
hopes, never to be realized, — awaken lofty aspira- 
tions, only to be mocked, — enkindle glorious imag- 
inings, only to vanish like momentary shadows, — 
then, chain this complex and wondrous being down, 
to grovel amidst degradation, and creep amid cor- 
ruption through all the brief years of his existence, — 
and then, at last, with the iron heel of an omnipo- 
tent necessity, crush him into a handful of shape- 
less dust, and extinguish his consciousness for ever? 
Would God permit this to be the destiny of thou- 
sands, while thousands more enter a bark of life 
which is laden with luxuries, and glide smoothly 
along the stream of time, fanned by breezes of sweet- 
est fragrance and charmed with the rich music of 
tenderest affections, and even at the close are sweetly 
deceived by illusory dreams of a still happier and 
immortal state to follow this ? One, whether in pain, 
disease, ignorance, and pollution, or in peace, health, 
refinement, and purity, living through a prolonged 
life of eighty, sixty, or forty years, — another only 
preserved through twenty, ten, or five years, — and 
many only for a day of breathing anguish, or of soft 
repose, before sinking back into the mysterious noth- 
ingness from which, for an instant, they were called, 
— are such the varied and strange beginnings, and is 
such the common and eternal end, of this living prin- 
ciple we call the human soul? Then deep darkness 
settles down upon^this world, leaving undiscoverable 



296 



FUTURE LIFE. 



any grand design, leaving us utterly unable to de- 
tect any intelligible purpose or beneficent tendency 
or universal law by which the vicissitudes of human 
experience may be explained, or by which the ap- 
parent contradictions of this actual life may be 
reasonably reconciled. Explicable or reconcilable 
these countless inequalities of earth must be, or man, 
of all other things, is the most deceived and self- 
deceiving, the most incomprehensible and unmean- 
ing thing in all the universe. Look back, then, 
through the confused lights of past history, look 
round upon the ceaseless vicissitudes of actual ex- 
perience, and look in upon your own profoundest 
thought, and discover, if you can, any explaining or 
reconciling principle, except that of the continued 
existence of the soul in a state of spiritual progres- 
sion. 

Is there any intimation of such universal law dis- 
coverable in the government of this life, of human 
action now ? The existence and operation of such 
a law is the very basis of all human calculation. 
The universal law of development and progression 
is the basis of all intelligent exertion and all mor- 
al action. In the order or the disorder of life, we 
see alike the operation of this law ; we see it rec- 
ognized and obeyed, or unrecognized and dis- 
obeyed, and in either case producing its natural 
effect, harmony or confusion, — when thwarted pro- 
ducing disorder, when regarded producing order. It 
is impartial in its operation, never suspended in 
favor of innocence and goodness, any more than of 
guilt and vice. This moral law is ceaseless in its 
action, and if obstructed long in its channel, like a 



FUTURE LIFE. 



297 



stream checked in its natural course, it rises and 
overflows and spreads destruction in its path, until it 
finds its operation natural, unrestrained. Whether by 
the ignorant or wilful perversion of this great moral 
law of life, physical death comes alike to the inno- 
cent child and the unjust man, to the youthful and 
to the aged, to the healthy and to the diseased; and 
when the misfortune has come and passed, we often 
see and understand how easily all could have been 
obviated, by observing the universal law of natural 
development and progression. Thus we see how 
necessarily, by the great divine law, child is con- 
nected with parent and parent with child, friend 
with friend, neighbor with neighbor, and each, even 
the humblest member, with the good or evil, the im- 
provement or injury, of a whole community. This 
universal law actually explains^* accounts for all 
the inequalities and differences of human experience, 
as far as we can see its operation ; that is, till the 
death of the body, when our material organs of ob- 
servation, so limited in their power, can trace the 
operation of the mind's development no farther. 
But can this explanation be enough ? It is only an 
explanation at all, on the supposition that the soul 
or vital principle of man continues to exist under the 
operation of the same grand law of development, 
until the soul, free from all outward pressures, can 
live, improve, and enjoy in the exercise of its free 
moral agency. 

Were death to the body also extinction to the 
soul, so far from any such inexorable law of develop- 
ment reconciling us, by its explanation, to the moral 
inequalities of actual life, we should be tempted to 



298 



FUTURE LIFE. 



charge injustice and cruelty on the source of a law 
so rigidly and invariably enforced. At the very best, 
we should be overwhelmed in mystery, amazement, 
and terror. Life being so short at longest, and 
oftentimes so full of sorrow, suffering, and anguish, 
every human sense of mercy and justice would 
impel us to ask, Why should God permit the opera- 
tion of a law which, unrestrained, must produce 
these sad effects ? Why not interfere miraculously, 
and with an arm of omnipotent power arrest the 
natural order of events, which brings human souls 
into this brief life under circumstances so widely 
different? Why should not the Supreme Sovereign 
declare, in the exercise of his infinite pleasure, that 
all souls, despite all natural laws, shall begin exist- 
ence with equal chances and capacities for freely 
securing improvement and happiness, through the 
whole of their brief being, which begins and ends on 
earth ? This we should feel, and this every human 
sense of justice would expect, were it not that there 
is an almost universal natural conviction that death 
itself is only an event in a progressive spiritual life, 
in the continuance of which the immortal soul shall 
find room for improvement, unburdened by the in- 
evitable restraints of this exceedingly imperfect ma- 
terial condition. This general conviction of the con- 
tinued life of the human spirit is all that satisfac- 
torily explains to us the moral inequalities of earth, 
and it is all that can reasonably reconcile the appar- 
ent moral contradictions in our experience, — it is all 
that does reconcile us to the endurance of what we 
call life's evils. On any other supposition, we never 
could feel reconciled to suffer daily and hourly as 



FUTURE LIFE. 



299 



we do, for the ignorance as well as for the wicked- 
ness of our fellow-men, whether only our fellow- 
citizens or our dearest friends. On any other sup- 
position, life might appear an enigma, and death a 
tragedy. The heavens might seem as if eternally 
hung in black, and earth as a revolving cemetery of 
open graves, into which at every step we were liable 
to fall and be buried out of sight for ever. Were the 
grave the end of all that is human, we reasonably 
feel that God would restrain the operation of natu- 
ral law, and forbid human freedom of volition and 
action, so as to equalize more the moral condition of 
man in his short career, to correct the errors and 
obviate the innumerable sorrowful disasters of our 
mortal experience. 

This argument for the immortality of soul, as you 
perceive, rests entirely upon the undeniable fact of 
the great moral disparities of human life, and not 
upon any feelings of repugnance which may be 
entertained at the idea of spiritual extinction. Such 
repugnance, as we plainly see, is far from being 
universal, and therefore can prove nothing as to the 
future. 

The argument rests on much higher ground than 
any supposed instinctive dislike to annihilation, 
namely, on the ^indubitable fact of the immense 
moral inequality of souls at their entrance upon 
moral agency. That, on the whole, there is in the 
present life more of good than evil, I most cheerfully 
admit. That, with a vast majority of human beings, 
real enjoyment and virtue and hope immensely pre- 
ponderate over vice, suffering, and fear, in their actual 
experience, is one of the most cherished principles of 



300 



FUTURE LIFE, 



my religious faith. Should, therefore, a divine reve- 
lation, well attested, direct and irresistible and un- 
ambiguous, be made to universal man, that the soul 
is mortal, and perishes at death, I could submit and 
thank the creative power, in humble and awful grat- 
itude for the blessings I now enjoy. Though I 
could neither explain nor reconcile the general phe- 
nomena of life, still I could serve, I could adore, the 
Supreme Power, whose ways were so utterly inscru- 
table to human eyes. I might look abroad on the 
fair face of nature, from the star-studded, glorious 
heavens to the richly variegated scenes of earth, and 
with an humble, if not a fearful gratitude, I might 
feel that 

" For me kind Nature wakes her genial power, 
Suckles each herb and spreads out every flower ; 
For me, the mine a thousand treasures brings, 
For me, health gushes from a thousand springs, 
Seas roll to waft me, suns to light me rise, — 
My footstool earth, my canopy the skies." 

This might be my language, as it might be my 
experience. Still, as I might look into the many 
wretched abodes of vice and ignorance and crime, 
and hear the wail of mourning, bleeding, crushed, 
and desponding, suffering hearts, I should feel that 
an awful, impenetrable shade of mystery enveloped 
human life; — so strangely different, so widely dif- 
ferent from beginning to the end, and all so brief! 
Multitudes diseased and deformed, in body and in 
mind, so hapless and so hopeless; multitudes in 
idiocy, insanity, imbecility, groping their way 
through the blackness of a moral night, scarce 
knowing enough to bless or curse their own exist- 
ence, their pale flame of life so soon expiring, they 



FUTURE LIFE, 



301 



so soon stumbling into the abyss of eternal oblivion, 
to be for ever nothing! I should feel overwhelmed 
with solemn and unutterable wonder, half fearing 
every moment that the curtain of death would fall 
and extinguish my own dim light, and half hoping 
that some wonderful display of divine beneficence 
would lift the cloud of sorrow from the world, and 
leave all souls here, brief as their being might be, in 
a paradise of unbroken peace and purity and love. 
But without such undoubted and universal revela- 
tion as to the extinction of the soul at death, every 
emotion of my spirit, every voice of nature, every 
groan and wail of sorrow-stricken hearts, and every 
voice from a million graves of the departed, seem to 
unite in exclaiming, with one joyous sound, The 
soul lives ! the soul never dies ! but from the mo- 
ment of dissolution with the mortal frame lives in 
an eternally progressive life, of eternally expanding 
beauty, proportioned with the exactest precision to 
the actual capacities and moral improvement of 
each and every human spirit, as it lived and left this 
earth. 

Now, in closing, as I have not dogmatized, nor 
offered any creed upon this point as essential to 
your belief, — for the truth does not depend either 
upon your belief, or disbelief, or unbelief, — permit me 
to remind you that the adoption of any one opinion, 
as to the existence or non-existence of the soul in 
the unseen future, does not of necessity change in 
the smallest measure the terms of your true happi- 
ness now in this life, the reality of which you cannot, 
do not deny. 

Your faith, or want of faith, in a futurity, leaves 



302 



FUTURE LIFE. 



the terms of your true enjoyment here to-day un- 
changed and still unchangeable. An upright, man- 
ful career of fidelity to your moral sense, a life of 
truth, justice, and fraternal affection, ever have been, 
and are now, the indispensable terms of the soul's 
dignity and happiness on earth, even though your 
soul should expire with the last breath of your de- 
caying mortal frame. Whatever else is true, this is 
all-important to our remembrance. The stability of 
the laws of life, confirmed by all revelation, human 
and divine, gives us the firmest assurance of this 
truth. Let us live then, that at its close we may 
look back and say this life has been a blessing, even 
on the supposition that no spirit should survive be- 
yond the tomb. By living well, doing justly, loving 
mercy, and walking humbly, extending our knowl- 
edge, quickening the intellect, expanding the heart, 
and taking the wide world into the embrace of our 
spiritual affections, — this' life itself may be an in- 
expressible blessing, calling for our profoundest grat- 
itude. Thus shall we attest, and be more sensible 
of, the worth, the dignity, the divinity of our nature, 
whether or not we find a firm faith in the spirit's 
immortality. But for the reasons which I have 
assigned, and without a most explicit and universal 
revelation to that effect, I cannot believe that death 
extinguishes the human soul. The design of human 
existence seems only to be discoverable ; the amaz- 
ing and countless disparities of earth seem only to be 
explicable ; and our minds can be reconciled to ex- 
isting vicissitudes only by regarding this as an eter- 
nal life, — to you begun when you began, to me 
begun when I began, and continuing on past all 



FUTURE LIFE. 



303 



that is now visible, death being a change, and but a 
change, of mere environments, — violence breaking, 
or ignorance deranging, or old age impairing, the 
material organism, in consequence of which the soul 
withdraws, and leaves the frame to return to its 
kindred elements, to recombine and perform the 
same office for yet other souls, born to people im- 
mortality. 

" When coldness wraps this suffering clay, 
O whither strays the immortal mind ? 
It cannot die, it cannot star, 
But leaves its darkened dust behind. 

Eternal, boundless, undecayed, 

A thought unseen, but seeing all, 
All, all in earth or skies displayed. 

Shall it survey, shall it recall. 

" Each fainter trace that memory holds, 
So darkly, of departed years, 
In one broad glance the soul beholds, 
And all that was, at once appears. 

" Above all dread, hope, hate, or fear, 
It lives, all passionless and pure ; 
An age shall fleet like earthly year, 
Its years as moments shall endure. 

u Away, away, without a wing, 

O'er all, through all, its thoughts shall fly, — 
A glorious and eternal thing, 
Forgetting what it was to die." 



DISCOURSE XXI. 



KEFLECTIONS ON DEATH, LIFE, AND FUTURITY. 

NOW IS THE ACCEPTED TIME. — 2 Cor. vi. 2. 

SHALL MORTAL MAN BE MORE JUST THAN GOD ? — Job iv. 17. 

As to the future, whether or not there is a life 
succeeding this, or, if there be, what is probably its 
nature and design, — and what relation this mortal 
existence may sustain to that, — there are doubtless 
many who are wholly indifferent, if we may judge 
from observation. But many more, and probably a 
majority of those who are brought up under the in- 
fluences of what is commonly called Christianity, 
are anxious and troubled as to that great unknown, 
that great unseen, which we call the future life, and 
this anxiety is so continual as to impart a gloomy 
shade to the whole character. They become, as one 
of the New Testament writers expresses it, " through 
fear of death, all their lifetime subject to bondage." 

Of these two classes of persons, each may be sub- 
divided into two other classes. Of those who exhibit 
an indifference to everything re]ating to the future, 
some are indifferent because of their almost com- 
plete ignorance, their incapacity for anything like 



DEATH, LIFE, AND FUTURITY. 



305 



continuous thought, their entire absorption in the la- 
bors or pursuits of the moment. Their struggle for 
the necessaries of life, or for comfort and luxury, if 
perchance they aspire to comfort and luxury, de- 
mands all their energies ; they live for to-day, or per- 
haps for to-morrow, or perhaps they look forward to 
next year. When sickness and death enter their 
circle, it is not to awaken alarm, it is scarcely to 
suggest a great or serious thought. For a moment 
there is a shock to the feelings, — some affections are 
rudely severed, — there is a disarrangement of some 
plans, there is a temporary feeling of disappointment ; 
but even this is perhaps relieved by the reflection, 
that there is more room for the survivors, and that 
there are fewer obstacles in the way of the exertions 
of those who remain. Then others are indifferent, be- 
cause for a time they' have dwelt too entirely upon 
the future. So desirous have they been of determin- 
ing the nature of that future, and their possible des- 
tiny therein, that they have overlooked present duty, 
present enjoyment, and everything temporal. Hav- 
ing taken one point of view, and determined to look 
towards one object, their views and reflections have 
all been one-sided, their speculations have all flowed 
in one channel, and still they have arrived at no 
satisfactory conclusion. The curtain dividing them 
from the invisible world remains impenetrable as 
ever, and finally, being suddenly aroused to the ne- 
cessities of the present, they have all at once dis- 
missed the future from their thoughts, thrown off all 
anxiety, and become groundlessly sceptical of every- 
thing relating to another existence. 

Of the second class of persons, — those who are 
26* 



306 



DEATH, LIFE, AND FUTURITY. 



continually troubled as to another world, — the un- 
easiness of one portion, by much the larger, origi- 
nates in their views of the nature of God and of 
religion. Having no doubts of the existence of the 
Deity and of religious obligation, they take for grant- 
ed the truth of their first-taught doctrines. They 
regard all men as naturally guilty, being born sinful 
and wicked in consequence of the first sin of one 
man, thousands of years ago. Regarding every hu- 
man being born into the world as doomed to a miser- 
able and endless perdition, unless there be a direct 
supernatural intervention, and believing there has 
been such an intervention of which some are to en- 
joy the advantage, but still being unable to decide 
who they are who are to enjoy the advantage, they 
are naturally perplexed between hope and fear as to 
their own eternal destiny. Strong as may be their 
faith, and high as may be their hopes, there is still 
an uncertainty which interferes essentially with all 
their present enjoyments. 

The difficulties of another portion of this class 
are purely of a speculative character. These persons 
are not much troubled as to their own eternal des- 
tiny, at least. They love to speculate and theorize 
concerning the future. Perhaps they persuade them- 
selves into the belief of a theory on the subject, 
which theory they are so desirous of propagating 
that they are inattentive to the immediate duties of 
their social relations, which inattention diminishes 
their influence among their neighbors and fellow- 
citizens, and renders themselves, their character, and 
their theory obnoxious to reproach, however sincere 
they may be, and however logical and just may be 
their theory of a future life. 



DEATH, LIFE, AND FUTURITY. 



307 



There is another class, less numerous probably 
than either of the other two ; namely, a class who 
are neither too indifferent nor too solicitous regard- 
ing the future world, or the final destiny of human 
beings. If it be possible to be so absorbed in the 
immediate duties of daily life, so intent upon the 
employment of agencies around us for improving 
and securing the health, education of the physical 
and mental powers we now possess, and so engaged 
in the performance of every possible office of be- 
nevolence toward our fellow-beings, as to leave the 
invisible, the unexplored and unexplained future en- 
tirely in the hands of the supreme disposing Power, 
— if such a condition be possible, it is a condition 
greatly to be desired. Such a condition would cer- 
tainly be the perfection of earthly enjoyment in the 
existing state of human society. 

It is told of an eminent philanthropist, who de- 
voted his whole time, talents, and wealth to the pro- 
motion of the welfare of needy and unenlightened 
fellow-men, supplying their wants and cultivating 
their hearts and minds, that when some one whose 
religion was less disinterested, less self-forgetful, in- 
quired of him whether, in his constant activity for 
the welfare of others, he secured the welfare of his 
own soul, he replied, " Why, in truth, sir, I have been 
so absorbed in providing for the comforts of the bod- 
ies and souls of others, that I have forgotten that I 
had a soul." This expression is of course to be un- 
derstood in the generous spirit in which it was ut- 
tered, in the common freedom of language ; for no 
better evidence could be desired of the true life of a 
true spirit, than that afforded by such self-forgetful 
and generous activity. 



308 



DEATH, LIFE, AND FUTURITY. 



Too much self-consciousness, here is the misfor- 
tune, — an activity creating self-forgetfulness, here is 
the corrective. That many more would attain to 
this desirable condition cannot be questioned, could 
minds but grow to a rational maturity unbiassed by 
pre-established theories concerning a future world. 
But some theory respecting the eternal destiny of 
human souls is one among the first impressions 
which parents and teachers regard it as a duty to fix 
on the infant mind. Everything relating to the un- 
seen and future is received without qualification and 
without suspicion by the child, especially when im- 
parted by those toward whom its first affections are 
developed. It is rare, indeed, that the mind finds 
itself enabled to throw off this early impression, even 
when the mature reason has become convinced that 
the opinion itself is untenable and erroneous, and 
that the affection which taught it was uninformed 
and misguided. 

But sometimes a vigorous understanding rises 
above all impressions that cannot be sustained by 
unimpassioned reason, and in the majesty of its 
might stands forth free and unfettered, solicitous only 
to discern the way of duty now, — ■ anxious only to 
perceive how it may best develop its energies to- 
day ; and as the methods and means of benevolent 
activity multiply before it, the mind finds its powers, 
and the heart its affections, expanding in a corre- 
sponding ratio. The curtain that divides the material 
from the immaterial, or, to speak more intelligibly, 
the visible from the invisible, may remain as impen- 
etrable as before; but every cloud that seemed to 
hang threateningly or repulsively around it rolls 



DEATH, LIFE, AND FUTURITY. 



309 



away, and leaves a horizon as fair, as bright, as 
beautiful and inviting, arOund the grave of manhood, 
or the tomb of age, as round the slumber of child- 
hood or the sleep of youth. 

There is a point at which there is probably 
an entire unanimity of sentiment. It is this, that 
the man who employs his whole time, from the 
period of his individual responsibility, in the com- 
bined duties of preserving and promoting his own 
health of body and of mind, endeavoring by every 
proper method to ameliorate the condition of his 
fellow-man, meeting disappointments calmly, en- 
during trials bravely, laboring on indefatigably, 
and hoping on while life remains, — such a human 
spirit, whatsoever may be its theory, or whether 
it have any theory regarding the eternal destiny 
of souls, can have no reasonable ground for appre- 
hension ; it is scarcely possible that he can enter- 
tain a sentiment of fear as to the future. Indeed, 
intelligent and we'l acquainted as he may be with 
the conjectures of metaphysicians or theologians, he 
is undisturbed as to the issue, concerning which all 
reasoning and all speculation must at the best ter- 
minate in conjecture. That saying of Peter, " In 
every nation he that feareth God, and worketh right- 
eousness, is accepted with him," meets with a uni- 
versal and cordial response from every human intel- 
lect and heart. Such a man as we have supposed, 
who is engaged in working righteousness, that is, in 
unceasing activity for good in every sphere he occu- 
pies, however confined or however extended, whether 
it be for his home, his neighbor, his country, or the 
world, — such a man cannot fail to reverence the 



310 



DEATH, LIFE, AND FUTURITY. 



Deity, the source and perfection of all beneficence. 
His labor is his worship, his deeds are his perpetual 
prayer, So that all the conditions are fulfilled in 
him. It can matter little to him in what land, or 
under what institutions, he may live, — it can matter 
little what ritual may be administered in churches, 
or what systems of theology may be compiled in 
libraries, or expounded in pulpits. His ritual is every 
agency, whether out of the church or in it, which com- 
mends itself as an instrument for promoting good ; 
and like the insect which extracts the honey unmixed 
with poison from every flower, he detects as by a 
spiritual instinct what is heavenly and humane in 
every system, whilst he leaves untouched the severe 
dogmas, the iron weapons, and human framework 
of them ail, to decay and perish under the corroding 
influence of time, and before the sunlight of eternal 
truth. 

Here again appears what seems to me to be the 
prevailing misconception of the nature and design of 
Christianity. I mean by Christianity the precepts 
and principles exemplified by the spirit and life of 
Jesus. For the most part, all of these precepts, 
principles, spirit, and life of Jesus are disregarded, 
and one event, the single circumstance of his death, 
made to appear as the great and supernatural agent, 
and evidence, and completion of a plan devised with 
reference to the destiny of human souls in another, 
the unseen and eternal world. Not for an instant 
would I have one lose this noble hope of another, a 
higher and enduring life ; but better, far better, to 
most men would it be, could they be taught the rules 
and principles of a Christian life, that is, of the life of 



DEATH, LIFE, AND FUTURITY. 



311 



the human being here, now, every day ; better far, 
could most men be taught and imbued with these, 
entirely separate from all reference to another world ; 
better far, that men should never hear of theories 
concerning heaven and hell, rewards and punish- 
ments in a state beyond the grave, until the works 
of God and the word of God, and their own con- 
sciences, and their own experience of the world 
about them, should awaken them to reflection, and 
to unbiassed reason. More active, purer, and hap- 
pier would be the mortal existence of most men if 
left in this condition as regards the invisible world, 
than to be imbued from infancy with some idea con- 
cerning the eternal destiny of souls which makes 
this existence appear brief, toilsome, and miserable, 
and which keeps them all their days subject to bond- 
age through fear of death. 

I would not adopt the saying, that, " if ignorance 
is bliss, 't is folly to be wise " ; for the sorrows of wis- 
dom are better than even the bliss of ignorance. But 
whilst there is so much to be done now that is prac- 
ticable, and so much to be acquired that is attain- 
able, it is not the mark of wisdom to diminish the 
enjoyment and abridge the number of our days by 
vague conjectures and fretful apprehensions as to 
what may be the_fate of the spirit a thousand years 
after its separation from this mortal body. It is as 
unmanly as it is illogical and untrue, to allege, as it 
sometimes is alleged, that only the rewards of a fu- 
ture heaven and the punishment of a future hell can 
impel us to rectitude and deter us from vice, can al- 
lure us to the good and alarm us from the evil. The 
child, who from sympathy rejoices in the smile and 



312 DEATH, LIFE, AND FUTURITY. 

is saddened by the sorrow of its mother, lives and 
enjoys life, unincited by the idea of a future heaven, 
and undismayed by the terrors of a future hell. It 
is no thought of reward in a future life that in- 
duces the child or youth to obey and venerate and 
love its parents. It is the kind look, the approving 
word or gentle act, of the tender mother, or the fond 
father, which is at once the incentive and reward of 
the uncorrupted and unperverted child. It is the 
consciousness that disobedience, or unkindness, or 
violence, or thoughtlessness, inflicts pain or sorrow 
on the affectionate parent, — it is this that deters the 
child from wrong purposes and words and acts. No 
promise of happiness and no threatening of pain in 
a world beyond the grave, can do much to affect the 
children of a faithful and indulgent parent. All ar- 
guments relating to a spiritual existence in another 
world fall unheeded on the ears of children, and have 
but little influence in forming the character and di- 
recting the actions of most persons in early life. 
That law which Paul speaks of as written on the 
heart of all men, which furnishes to all in some kind 
and degree an instinctive perception of right and 
wrong, determines almost every act of our earlier 
years, before religious prejudices have become fixed, 
and sectarian theories settled in the mind. And thus 
it would be through life with most men, if left en- 
tirely uninfluenced by either fears, or hopes, or opin- 
ions, as to the eternal destiny of souls. 

They disregard both facts and reason, who assert 
that they would not avoid vice and crime, were it 
not from fear of the wrath of the Deity, and an in- 
fernal abode with fiends for ever. There are fami- 



DEATH, LIFE, AND FUTURITY. 



313 



lies and tribes of men, as well as children and unin- 
formed deaf and dumb persons, — i. e. uninstructed 
with reference to any other than the life they see, — 
who have a consciousness of right and wrong, and 
who strive to perform the one and avoid the other, as 
scrupulously as the most dogmatical believer in the 
rewards and punishments of another existence. To 
the human being who has never learned of life be- 
yond the present, who has been uninfluenced by a 
single promise or a single threatening referring to 
the future, vice is no less vice, and virtue is no less 
virtue, the immediate effect of vice is no less certain, 
and the immediate effect of virtue is no less sure, 
than to the man who ponders every utterance and 
act to ascertain its bearing on his condition in eter- 
nity. To the man who has never had any concep- 
tion of a future life, or who becomes persuaded that 
Deity and demon, heaven and hell, happiness and 
misery, all relating to an existence beyond the pres- 
ent, are only dreams of the imagination, beginning 
and ending only in our own conceptions, — to that 
man's present comfort it is just as essential that his 
relatives, friends, neighbors, and fellow-citizens should 
be truthful, and just, and enlightened, and courteous, 
as to his who lives in constant view of an eternal 
world. A confirmed fatalist or atheist may be your 
nearest neighbor, and it is just as essential to your 
enjoyment that you should both be honorable, gen- 
erous, true, and kind, as if you were both confirmed 
in the faith of a Christian immortality. 

The only all-important concern of a man, then, is 
to be good and do good, to seek for the best and 
do for the best, now, to-day, to-morrow, and al- 
27 



314 



DEATH, LIFE, AND FUTURITY. 



ways, and to be so absorbed in this, that thoughts 
of the future shall have little opportunity to obtrude 
themselves upon us,\ and then never in an offensive 
form, but only as a bright conjecture or a brighter 
hope. Present, perpetual activity is the only safe 
defence against undue solicitude. Labor is the true 
life, and labor is the true rest. 

" Labor is rest from the sorrows that greet us, 
Eest from all petty vexations that meet us, 
Rest from sin -promptings that ever entreat us, 

Rest from world-Sirens that lure us to ill. 
Work, — and pure slumbers shall wait on thy pillow ; 
Work, — thou shalt ride over care's coming billow ; 

Work with a stout heart and resolute will. 
Work for some good, be it ever so slowly ; 
Cherish some flower, be it ever so lowly; 
Labor, — all labor is noble and holy ; 

Let thy great deeds be thy prayer to God." 

In such diligent activity, in such unceasing worship 
now, is the only true repose from perplexing anxiety 
to know the future, the invisible, the bourne whence 
no traveller returns with messages to satisfy our won- 
derings. 

Wide as may be the differences of opinion among 
sects of Christians, there will probably be no dispute 
on this point, — that he who lives such a life of 
humble, self-forgetful benevolence can have little to 
apprehend from the change which men call death ; 
his faithfulness over the few and small things makes 
him ruler over many and great things ; and it is a 
small concern what may be the theory entertained by 
such -a human being concerning the eternal world, or 
whether he may have framed any theory. 

But this, just and reasonable as it is, does not, it 



DEATH, LIFE, AND FUTURITY. 



315 



may be said, meet the case of the world as it is. 
Death is certain. Daily, hourly, it removes friends 
and neighbors and fellow-beings from our presence. 
The wise and the illiterate ; the honorable and the 
mean ; the benevolent and the heartless ; the man 
who loses sight of every selfish consideration in the 
immediate discharge of duty, and the man who 
never loses sight of some personal end, who buys 
and sells and prays and worships only to benefit 
himself, — dissolution is an event common to them 
all. Each day, each hour, the eye of some is grow- 
ing dim, and the blood growing cold, and the spirit 
leaving its mortal habitation. As the moment of 
separation approaches, mingled emotions of hope 
and fear agitate most minds. Should reason, im- 
agination, and memory remain unimpaired, or 
should they be quickened to preternatural activity, 
the retrospect of the past and the anticipation of the 
future are likely to meet ; and where the retrospect 
exhibits a life marked by many mistakes, many blem- 
ishes, many faults, perhaps some grievous crimes, 
remorse for the past is most likely to be blended with 
fear as to the final fate of the soul. At such a time 
it is natural, as it is common, to summon the min- 
ister of religion. It is his province to endeavor to 
administer consolation, to elicit the expression of 
penitence, and to inspire hope. 

Now, to make it a direct and practical question, 
am I asked what I would say, or recommend, or do, 
under such circumstances ? I might say : " Sir, you 
have painful regrets as to the past, and you have 
doubts and fears as to the future. Have you a friend 
who, though resembling you in no point of charac- 



316 



DEATH, LIFE, AND FUTURITY. 



ter, yet is thoroughly familiar with your past life, — 
who has been fully apprised of your motives and 
principles of action, who has been a close observer of 
your deeds, your faults, your infirmities, your virtues, 
and your crimes ? To this honest, intelligent, pure- 
minded, and generous friend, who has frequently ad- 
vised, warned, compassionated, and endeavored to 
reform you, — to this friend would you hesitate, now 
that you are about to separate from your earthly 
interests, to leave property, family, all that has been 
dear on earth? and, anxious still that all should be 
carefully, kindly, and justly disposed of, would you 
hesitate to leave all, freely, unconditionally, — prop- 
erty, family, — all in the care, under the entire con- 
trol, of this true friend ? " I cannot doubt the answer. 
I might then go further, and say to the dying man : 
" Sir, you are filled with remorse and sorrow in rec- 
ollection of your unhappy life ; you are fearful of the 
unseen and unknown future that lies before you, — 
the ultimate fate of your sin-stained spirit awakens 
apprehension. Again I ask, would you, were it 
possible, hesitate to leave even that final and eternal 
fate in the hands of your human friend, — with all 
your imperfections, errors, and vices well known to 
him, — would you hesitate to leave in his hands the 
decision of your fate for an eternity?" There can 
be little doubt as to the reply. He would answer in 
the affirmative, — -willingly, joyfully would he com- 
mit his whole fate for time or eternity to the decis- 
ion of his pure, virtuous, and just human friend. I 
might then reply: " Shall mortal man be more just 
than God? Shall mortal man be more merciful 
than God ? Should not the best and the worst pre- 



DEATH, LIFE, AND FUTURITY. 



317 



fer to exclaim, with David, Let me fall into the 
hands of God, and not into the hands of man? 
Shall I be ready to commit my destiny to the de- 
cision of a mortal friend, whose most piercing vision 
cannot penetrate beneath this veil of flesh, — who 
can only know me by the few expressions of word and 
act, of which he may chance to be the witness, — 
and shall I hesitate an instant, — shall I in the dying 
moment have a single lingering doubt of that all-wise 
Father, who sees the most hidden springs of thought, 
before whom every impulse is revealed, who knows 
not only my errors and my faults, but who knows 
the temptations long resisted, the evil promptings 
overcome, the hours and days of patient endurance 
and inward conflict, and who can weigh each word 
and act, each thought and motive, in the scale of the 
exactest justice ? Would I commit my faith to an 
earthly parent's keeping, and shall I pause an in- 
stant to intrust the soul for ever to the disposal of a 
Father whose tenderness transcends the tenderness 
of an earthly parent, as boundless love transcends 
the affection of the mortal, — a Father who is him- 
self the infinite embodiment of every perfection ? " 



27 



DISCOUKSE XXII. 



THE MOEAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, WITH 
REFERENCE TO THE WORLD. 

YE ARE A PECULIAR PEOPLE, CALLED OUT OF DARKNESS 

into marvellous light. — 1 Peter ii. 9. 

Who can tell all the influences of which he is the 
recipient, or of which he is the radiating centre ? If 
a man is a world in miniature, in a still broader sense 
is a nation a world in miniature. It becomes a peo- 
ple to know, if possible, the history, condition, pros- 
pects, and tendencies of the institutions which con- 
trol them. 

What, then, are the moral aspects and relations, 
and what appears to be the moral mission, of our 
country ? 

Never, at any previous period of the world's ad- 
vancement, was the mutual dependency of nations 
so obvious as now. The numerous civilizing agen- 
cies of the last century have been gradually, yet rap- 
idly, uniting and blending the great interests of the 
governments of the enlightened world. Every promi- 
nent measure, affecting, favorably or otherwise, the 
welfare of the people of any government, is observed, 



THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY. 319 



if not felt in its operations, by the whole circle of 
civilized nations. Commerce, in this later age, has 
been at once the incentive and the agent of scientific 
research, by which such arts have been invented as 
change essentially the relation of every people to 
every other. 

As a result, we discover an activity of mind and 
desire for progress, to which nothing similar can be 
found in the annals of the world. On every side 
there is commotion, and in many quarters fear and 
trembling. Great experiments are in contemplation, 
and the wisest of the wise dare venture no prophe- 
cies as to the complexion which affairs will assume 
during a coming generation. 

To know our own moral position, we must ob- 
serve that of the nations of Christendom. Look, for 
a moment, at the present attitude of Europe. Brit- 
ain, whose possessions extend around the globe, with 
her extremes of prodigious wealth and wretched pov- 
erty, her nobles and her beggars, her charities and 
her oppressions, her glory and her shame, gradually 
adapting her government to the demands and in- 
creasing power of an enlightened people, still retains 
her stupendous military force, and scarcely seems to 
know whether her authority is strengthening or 
weakening, whether her throne is more stable, or 
whether public opinion is not daily undermining its 
foundations. 

Russia and Austria, by a vast military power 
holding in subordination the Polish and Hungarian 
elements of revolution, have millions of serfs and 
subjects ready to enter upon every bold and hazard- 
ous experiment, which may offer to relieve them from 



320 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

an oppression which strives to reduce them to the 
veriest barbarism. 

Italy, with Rome, once the seat of the mightiest 
power on earth, now only relieved from revolution or 
anarchy by the overshadowing force of a foreign gov- 
ernment, and the Pontifical throne still sitting over 
the crater of a social volcano, liable every hour to 
burst forth in burning fury and consume every sym- 
bol of spiritual and monarchical authority. 

France, for a moment silent under the fierce frown 
of a daring usurper, but with restless millions eagerly 
awaiting some fresh moving of the waters, when they 
may embark upon any sea of troubles rather than 
wear the chains now imposed upon them by a ty- 
rant. Temporary repose may be secured ; but all is 
uncertainty and fear. Permanent peace is not ex- 
pected. Change must soon occur ; but what change 
it is impossible even to imagine. 

Such is the picture of European affairs at this 
day. A vast population struggling and trembling 
after the passage of successive revolutions, with the 
prospect of still successive revolutions, now hoping 
and now fearing, and scarcely knowing whether 
most to hope or most to fear. 

Look then at our own condition, and contrast it. 
For three quarters of a century we have been steadily 
increasing in territorial extent, in population and 
commercial influence. There being few or no re- 
straints on the diffusion of knowledge, science has 
been exploring, art inventing, wealth accumulating, 
and facilities daily multiplying for intercommunica- 
tion, — and this almost bloodlessly, peacefully, and 
with popular intelligence constantly augmenting. 



WITH REFERENCE TO THE WORLD. 



321 



Yet. while enjoying peace, we are not to overlook 
the fact, that, while extending from a few thinly set- 
tled States, along the Atlantic, into a united family 
of populous commonwealths, covering the continent 
from one great ocean to the other, we have passed 
through the ordeal of two wars, — which, though 
brief, may, perhaps, be termed fierce and sanguinary 
wars, — one with our mother-land, and one with our 
neighboring republic in the Southwest. 

On the whole, we have abundant cause for con- 
gratulation, and for gratitude, having enjoyed bless- 
ings unequalled by those of any people on the globe. 
We might justly take up the Hebrew prophet's ex- 
clamation : "What nation is there so great? He 
hath not dealt so by any people." 

But whilst we are duly grateful, it becomes us 
not to be vainly boastful. While encouraging most 
ardent hope, let us not indulge blind confidence. 

I am well aware it is expected that the preacher is 
to search out the dark side of every subject, in order 
that he may find a topic for pious exhortation. Bat 
it is indulging no mere pulpit cant to declare, as a 
principle, that, as all that gives permanent value to 
individual character is moral excellence, so the only 
true basis of national greatness is moral power. 

All that can give stability to the best devised civil 
institutions is moral character and moral worth. 
This is the only reasonable deduction from philoso- 
phy and history, as well as the divine dictate of the 
Christian religion. 

In our day we say much of missions. We make 
the term mission one of marked significance. We 
say every man has a mission ; every institution has 



322 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

a mission ; every government has a mission. Let 
us inquire what is the moral mission of our country ? 
In view of the extent of our territory, the productions 
of our soil, the variety of our climate, our inexhausti- 
ble resources, and the freedom of our institutions, it 
seems to be the mission of our country to furnish to 
mankind an example of moral power and moral prog- 
ress, — peaceful power and peaceful improvement. 

Yet some, and not wholly without cause, doubt 
our capacity to fill this sublime mission. They ap- 
prehend that we do not improve in wisdom as we 
improve in wealth ; that we do not increase in virtue 
as we increase in influence ; that patriotism does not 
keep pace with party spirit ; that religion does not 
keep pace with railroads ; that moral worth does not 
keep pace with magnetic wires ; and they are ready 
to adopt the warning words, " We must educate ! 
we must educate! or we must perish by our own 
prosperity." This suggests a truth entitled to pro- 
found reflection ; namely, that what is needed is not 
simply to educate, but to educate into manly inde- 
pendence of thought, — to educate into the universal 
duty of self-knowledge and self-reliance. For we 
know and see that men may be educated into the 
defence of illiberality, persecution, and despotism. 
Men may, with the most abundant appliances of 
mental culture, refinement, and taste, be educated 
with no comprehensiveness of thought, and no en- 
largement of the affections. With all the means of 
mental accomplishment, men may be educated as 
the most contracted and virulent partisans, or the 
most intolerant and unrelenting bigots. 

But, not pursuing this idea now, let us inquire, 



WITH REFERENCE TO THE WORLD. 



323 



What is there to be feared or hoped for, at present, 
from the prevalence of party spirit ? In our country- 
political influences affect every man, in some measure, 
in all his relations. They affect him as an individual 
and a social being ; they have a bearing upon, and 
perform a part in developing, the intellectual, moral, 
and religious character Of all interested in them. 

The history of nations testifies that party spirit 
has occasioned great calamities. -On this point there 
would be ground for apprehension among us, were 
there in operation no corrective tendencies, neutral- 
izing and overruling evils. Some seem to fear that 
we may lose both the spirit and the institutions of 
our fathers by the increasing distance between our 
times and the times which " tried men's souls." 

Whilst anxieties like these are not entirely un- 
founded, we discover that there exists, still a strong 
sentiment of reverence for the fervent patriotism and 
self-sacrificing devotion of the early fathers of the 
republic. 

Not long since, you will remember, an eloquent 
patriot, who, escaped from the tyranny of Austrian 
and Russian power, was welcomed as the guest of 
our people. He appealed to their principles and their 
sympathies, their devotion to liberty, and their indig- 
nation against despotism. In breathing thoughts 
and burning words, he told the sad story of his coun- 
try's woes. He endeavored to lead our government 
to the adoption of a new policy, which would have 
involved us in the present revolutions and impending 
battles of Europe. Indeed, no effort was spared to 
weaken the attachment of our people to a pacific 
policy, — to enlist their sympathies, to secure their 



324 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 



aid, and almost to stir up the fierce, the revengeful, 
the more ungovernable of human passions. 

But all failed to shake the popular reverence for 
the purest, holiest sentiments of Christian brother- 
hood, inculcated by our fathers. Neither govern- 
ment nor people has been willing to descend from the 
lofty moral eminence which our nation has gradually 
gained. True, we have sorrow for the oppressed of 
every land in Europe. We have sympathy for their 
sufferings, a home for the refugees, bread for the 
starving, and wide arms to give a welcome embrace 
to all who seek an asylum on our broad, free, blessed 
shores. 

But our government and our people have virtually 
said : We hear your appeals, we are not blind to 
your trials ; we have helped, we do help, we are help- 
ing you now, even more than you imagine ; but we 
cannot descend from our high place of universal ob- 
servation to become the warlike champion of one na- 
tion. We are not living for ourselves ; but, encom- 
passed with a cloud of witnesses, we are the polar 
star in the political heavens to guide the laboring 
barks of a hundred nations. Our mission is a moral 
mission, and we must use moral weapons. We are 
speaking courage to the world's ear, and awakening 
courage in the world's heart. 

For four thousand years the world has been wait- 
ing, hoping, and longing with anxious soul, for an ex- 
ample of self-government, universal intelligence, free 
conscience, and moral power, — giving stability to 
character, and inspiring the human family w T ith faith, 
— and we believe that it is ours to offer that example. 

Help do you ask ? Have we not aided you ? 



WITH REFERENCE TO THE WORLD. 



325 



What voice was it that stirred the first impulse in 
your bosoms, and kindled the patriotic flame on the 
altar of your hearts ? Was it not the voice of 
American liberty ? 

What moved Poland and Greece to struggle to be 
free ? Was it not the sunlight of our institutions 
beaming over on their shores ? What agitated Aus- 
tria ? What preserves bright hope in Italy? What 
has impelled France in her repeated efforts and re- 
peated failures, and what now is the sole beam of 
light which breaks through the gloom of her tempo- 
rary depression ? What but the example of the 
American Union, — the moral sun which God is 
holding up to illumine and guide the nations to 
freedom, to knowledge, and to peace ? 

The rich islands on our own hemisphere, in the 
Caribbean Sea, — where do they look for relief from 
their burdens, but to the resistless moral power of 
our example ? The whole sisterhood of God-blessed 
but man-cursed nations in South America, — where 
is their hope of ultimate deliverance but in the pros- 
pect of our permanency and progress, — by the ex- 
tension of our commerce carrying the golden line of 
enlightened liberty around through the nations of 
the globe, and along that line one day to send an 
electric current which shall dissolve the iron of every 
crown, and scepfre, and throne for ever ? 

We are Americans, but we are also Christians. 
We are republicans, but we are also brothers of 
mankind. We are living not only for ourselves, for 
a nation, or for the present only ; we are living for 
posterity, for the future, for all our race who may 
succeed us on the earth. The existing nations of 
28 



326 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

the earth, — we love them all; but we cannot, by- 
becoming the special champion of one, weaken our 
resources for the world's help. True, we have once 
been crucified, but we have been crucified for the 
world's salvation. We have once been buried in 
sorrow, and tears, and blood, but we have risen to 
be the resurrection and the life to the nations of the 
earth. 

This is the voice which our government and peo- 
ple have uttered, and which testifies at once to the 
existence of regard for justice, a patriotic devotion 
to our own institutions, and a philanthropic regard 
for the welfare of mankind. It testifies to the ex- 
istence of a moral sentiment, and the consciousness 
of our moral mission. Easily as the people may at 
times be agitated, and violent as party spirit may at 
times become, there are always some calm, judicious 
Mentors, unaffected by extraneous commotions, who 
raise their word of warning, and whose voices are 
not unheeded. Three quarters of a century have 
now passed since the signing of what has been 
styled " the most important document ever issued 
by uninspired men " ; and yet their memory, with 
that of the great, virtuous, and world-renowned 
Washington, is embalmed among the holiest recol- 
lections of the living generation. 

By all these encouragements, by recalling consid- 
erations which mitigate existing evils, I am not pre- 
tending to allege that there is no greater room for 
improvement, and that there are not occasions for 
some anxiety. Notwithstanding the ordeals through 
which our institutions have passed, and from which 
they have emerged, like gold from the crucible, 



WITH REFERENCE TO THE WORLD. 327 

purer for the trial, yet the exalted moral eminence 
we occupy in the observation of the world, the real 
grandeur of our moral mission to the nations of 
mankind, are by no means appreciated and remem- 
bered as they should be. 

We have perils to encounter, and we must neither 
conceal nor disguise them ; and while such vital in- 
terests are involved, where are we to look for a 
dispassionate, paternal, reconciling, and admonitory 
voice, if not to the altars of our Christian religion, — 
the altars of human love and universal peace ? We 
have individual ambitions, sectional jealousies, party 
strifes, and sectarian divisions ; we have misguided 
zeal and morbid conscience. These are some of the 
evils we must encounter, and of the perils we must 
guard against. 

Our own confidence in ourselves furnishes no in- 
fallible warrant of national immortality. Neither 
faith in our past success, nor our inherent vitality, 
can secure the permanence of our institutions. All 
human history furnishes no more striking instance of 
unfaltering faith, than that which the Hebrews had 
in their own stability. That their national institu- 
tions, their temple and religion, should stand and 
triumph, and reign unrivalled in the earth, they did 
not for a moment doubt. Yet the exact spot on 
which their temple stood cannot be determined now, 
so completely has that monument of their power 
been swept away. The Mohammedan crescent 
now glistens over the dome from which once float- 
ed the royal banners of Judah, and the remnants 
of the race are found on every continent, in every 
nation. 



328 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

It is the same with Pagan nations, and the same 
with Christian nations. There are allusions in the 
New Testament, and other Christian reqprds, to 
Christian communities once existing, where, as far 
as we can determine. Pagan or Mohammedan au- 
thority now sways an undisputed sceptre, leaving no 
vestige of the faith of the crucified Nazarene. 

We are, the wisest and best of us, but men, and 
neither angels nor gods ; and all our achievements, 
like ourselves, must bear the mark of fallibility. In- 
stitutions we have, social, political, and religious, of 
the value, the necessity, and expediency of which, 
there is, and of necessity must be, difference of opin- 
ion. But, as minds vary with bodies, as mental ca- 
pacities vary with physical features, why may not 
all opinions be entertained with undoubted honesty, 
and be presented with earnest, manly modesty, and 
be considered calmly, in the spirit of just concession? 
Why may not every improvement and experiment 
be suggested freely, if possible tried fairly, and the 
result, successful or unsuccessful, be acknowledged 
generously ? Why may not all, on every side, listen 
patiently, examine candidly, act honestly, and con- 
cede manfully? Then, action being in every in- 
stance squared and regulated by that well-styled 
golden rule, " Do to others even as ye would that 
others should do to you," there need be no discord 
which may not be harmonized, no clashing senti- 
ments which may not be reconciled, no various ex- 
periments which may not co-operate. 

Acting in such a spirit, the result would and must 
be change where change is needed, improvement 
where improvement is required; and in all and over 



WITH REFERENCE TO THE WORLD. 329 



all, individuals and institutions, natural Christian 
development, progress, and enjoyment. Patience 
there must be, both in thought and action ; and 
without patience, concession, peace and improve- 
ment are alike impracticable and impossible. 

Could the conscript fathers, the illustrious framers 
of that solemn declaration, the proclamation of 
which to-morrow will commemorate, — could they 
have pierced the dim vista of the future, and, looking 
forward, have foreseen the glory of our country, — 
could they with the seer's eye have discerned the 
passions and jealousies which now exist and jeop- 
ard the grand national union, which is the great 
anomaly in the history of nations, and the admira- 
tion of the enlightened world, — they would have re- 
corded a rich testament of precious words, to be 
opened now and read by the assembled nation. 
Appealing solemnly to our common memories, trials, 
enjoyments, and hopes, they would remind us of the 
just concessions and reasonable compromises which 
they made, and also of the conflicting opinions, prej- 
udices, and interests which they reconciled. They 
would recall us to sacred memories, — memories reach- 
ing back to the period when our common ancestors 
braved the perils of the ocean, the savage, and the 
wilderness, to find " freedom to worship God," — hal- 
lowed memories of that hour when they pledged to- 
gether, life, fortune, and sacred honor, in a cause 
which demanded and which received the sacrifice of 
peace,' of property, and blood. They would appeal 
to us by our common language, common laws and 
interests, — interests extending over our continent, 
connecting with the nations of the civilized globe, 
28 * 



330 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 



and looking forward to remote posterity. Tbey 
would appeal to us as reverential children, and as 
loving brothers, to remain united in one unbroken 
circle of linked liberty, and trust, and love. 

It is a solemn and fearful responsibility which we 
incur. Let each man persist — as some reformers 
and theorists of our age do — in exalting self-con- 
science, which is often nothing more than self-inter- 
est, prejudice, and pride of judgment, — let each one 
exalt this rule of imperfectly enlightened individual 
conscience as an infallible standard by which to test 
the civil and social institutions of our country, and 
how soon may the ruins of our government lie scat- 
tered round us, and we be ready to take refuge from 
the horrors of anarchy in tyranny or barbarism ! 
The political sun which now illuminates the world 
would then be eclipsed for ever. On the stormy sea 
of life, mankind would then be left without a bow of 
earthly promise, or an anchor of earthly faith. Simi- 
larity of interests, community of laws, of language, 
and of religion, all these could then afford no criteria 
for the future. For in the possession of all these in- 
comparable blessings to an unparalleled degree, we 
should then have perished, and the dark pall of obliv- 
ion would shroud together our national memory and 
man's earthly hopes. Consider the immense stream 
of humanity pouring in upon us from the four quar- 
ters of the globe, from poor, downcast, famine-strick- 
en Ireland on the west, to wall-surrounded, mind- 
fettered China on the east, of the other hemisphere. 
These strangers, yet human brothers, are spreading 
by tens of thousands over our broad and goodly land, 
to find the blessings of knowledge, liberty, and peace. 



WITH REFERENCE TO THE WORLD. 



331 



It is ours, in this fruitful and heaven-adorned asy- 
lum, to receive them all with a brother's welcome, 
and share with them all the common heritage of 
God our Father, till their own lands shall cease to 
be prisons, and become peaceful abodes of Christian 
men. 

We are truly " a peculiar people, called out of 
darkness into marvellous light." We now see some- 
thing of the true grandeur of our moral mission as a 
people. The religion of the future is looking up to 
us, and the liberty of the future is looking up to 
us. Poor, wounded, groaning Liberty is now looking 
toward us with yearning heart and tearful eyes, as 
the exile looks towards the home of his love. Poor, 
priest-wronged, church-bound, crucified Religion is 
now looking up to us, as the suffering saint looks 
towards the tomb, as the gateway of immortal glory. 

Let us guard well our sublime and holy trust. 
Should the unrighteous hands of political ambition 
or religious bigotry ever for a day succeed in re- 
moving the ark of our covenant of civil and religious 
freedom, may worse than Assyrian calamities afflict 
the plunderers, till our heavenly treasure be restored. 
Should the genius of human liberty ever be driven 
from our shores, like Noah's dove, may she find no 
rest for the sole of her foot, till she return and find a 
glad people ready to receive, to cherish, and to love 
her. ~ The rule conservative of all good may be 
summed up in a single sentence. Let each one, as 
an American, as a man, and as a Christian, be true 
to himself, that is, to his knowledge and his privi- 
leges. He who is thus true to himself will be true 
to his fellow-man, his country, and his God. 



332 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY. 



Let us live thus truly ; for we see 

" There is a mighty dawning on the earth 

Of human glory ; dreams unknown before 

Fill the mind's boundless world, and wondrous birth 

Is given to great thought. 

On every side appears a silent token 

Of what will be hereafter, — when existence 

Shall become a pure and sacred thing, 

And earth sweep high as heaven." 



DISCOURSE XXIII. 



THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, WITH REF- 
ERENCE TO CHRISTIANITY. 

STAND FAST IN THE LIBERTY WHEREWITH CHRIST HATH 

made us free. — Galatians v. 1. 

As to every intelligent being, so to every nation, 
the Creator appears to assign some work, and to 
grant to each the incentives and means to discover 
and perform that work. 

Among other problems which appear to be given 
us to solve, — the mission of our country and govern- 
ment being a moral mission, — is that of union and 
liberty in religion. 

Can there be liberty of conscience, freedom of 
speech, and unity of action in religion ? 

In no nation yet, as the records of seventeen cen- 
turies demonstrate, has entire liberty of conscience 
been found to coexist with unity of action among 
nominal disciples of Christianity. From the fact 
that government has recognized no preference of 
one over another, the necessity of mutual toleration 
among the sects— -for it has only been toleration, 
and not charity — has led some in other countries 



334 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 



to attribute to us as a people much more virtue 
than is justly ours. 

A well-known British writer, himself a theologian, 
in speaking of our institutions, says : " It is hardly 
possible for any nation to show a greater superiority 
over another, than the Americans in this particular 
have shown over us. They have fairly, completely, 
and probably for ever extinguished that spirit of per- 
secution, which has been the employment and curse 
of mankind for four or five centuries; — not only that 
persecution which imprisons and scourges for opin- 
ions, but the tyranny of incapacitation, which, by 
disqualifying from civil offices, and cutting a man 
off from the lawful objects of ambition, endeavors to 
strangle religious freedom in silence, and to enjoy all 
the advantages, without the blood and noise and 
fire, of persecution." 

Partially true as this is, you readily perceive how 
far it is overdrawn. Place by its side the following 
declaration from a late number of a Roman Catho- 
lic periodical, published in our own country : "Re- 
ligious tolerance is a heresy, and no Catholic can for 
an instant tolerate it. Every Catholic must profess 
religious intolerance or cease to be a Catholic. The 
essence of this religious intolerance is expressed in 
this article of faith : ' Out of the Church there is no 
salvation.' It follows, therefore, that where religious 
intolerance must always and everywhere be right, 
civil tolerance may be proper to-day and not to- 
morrow, right in one country, and wrong in an- 
other/' The same writer then proceeds to show 
where unlimited toleration may be advantageous 
to the Church, — -namely, where the government 



WITH REFERENCE TO CHRISTIANITY. 335 



professes atheism, paganism, or a false religion. 
In China, England, or the United States, where a 
false religion prevails, it may be beneficial to the 
Church that there should be unlimited toleration. 
On the other hand, where the true religion, that 
is, the Roman Catholic, controls the government, as 
in Italy or Spain, "intolerance on the part of the 
state becomes a religious duty," for " the advocacy 
of new doctrines would disturb the public peace." 

You perceive from this doctrine, openly advocated 
at this day, in our own country, by a religious com- 
munity equalling in numbers any one of the various 
churches, how far our government is from extin- 
guishing completely and for ever that spirit of per- 
secution which has so long been the dishonor of 
Christian sects. We perceive that the liberal spirit 
of our civil institutions has not by any means extin- 
guished, but, by protecting all in the exercise of 
their religious sentiments, thus far, has only re- 
strained, the spirit of persecution. 

Indeed, though liberalizing influences have dif- 
fused among the people a liberal spirit, yet many of 
the clergy of Protestant churches, the leaders or 
guides of denominations, as far as their actual pro- 
ceedings will warrant an opinion, are as destitute of 
genuine charity, as intolerant of religious opinions 
varying from their own, as in any previous period of 
Christian history. In many of our social circles, the 
lines of exclusion are drawn on sectarian principles ; 
and not unfrequently, in some of our communities, 
certain religious sentiments are made the ground of 
political action, in electing candidates to office. 

No one who reads the weekly publications of the 



336 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 



religious press, can easily mistake what sort of spirit 
actuates its directors. The uncharitableness of the 
religious press is a by-word even among political 
partisans. 

Lawyers, physicians, and opposing politicians 
have always been accustomed, more or less, to 
meet, consult, deliberate, and act together. Bat a 
few years since, a number of clergy of several Prot- 
estant denominations assembled in London, to 
form what they styled an Evangelical Alliance. 
The world was moved at the amazing spectacle, and 
it was thought by some that the " kingdom of 
Heaven " was indeed " at hand." Yet what was 
the first act of that world-surprising assembly ? It 
was to frame a creed excluding from the Alliance 
not only more than half of all Christendom, namely, 
the Roman Catholic Church, but also, in express 
terms, excluding several Protestant denominations, 
embracing probably one fourth of the Protestant 
world. 

But what has,been the issue of that assembly and 
that platform ? Almost ever since that time, or for 
three or four years past, we hear nothing of the 
Evangelical Alliance. It has died a natural death, 
expired almost as soon as born, and Bishop Hughes, 
had he recalled the fact, might have enumerated this 
among the evidences of what he styles "the decline 
of Protestantism." 

But praise to the Supremely Good, all truth is 
not enclosed by the walls of Roman Catholic 
churches, nor confined in Protestant creeds. There 
are other agencies operating than religious partisans 
and sectarian denominations. And it is here, under 



WITH REFERENCE TO CHRISTIANITY. 337 

the protection of our government, under the guid- 
ance of our civil institutions, as all appearances 
conspire to indicate, that the problem of religious 
liberty is to be solved, that theoretical and prac- 
tical religion are to be reconciled. It is for our 
country and our citizens to prove practicable, entire 
liberty of conscience and entire unity of action, free- 
dom of judgment and unity of spirit. 

As in the name of liberty the sternest tyrants 
have mounted to the throne of despotism, so in the 
name of religion, through ages, have been perpe- 
trated the most inhuman and ungodly deeds. In 
the name of zeal for the Christian faith have been 
performed enormities which would be deemed cruel 
even among barbarians. It can then scarcely be a 
matter of astonishment, if some be found who will 
express their serious doubts as to Christianity having 
been a blessing to the world. But we see that mind 
itself, that which allies the creature to the Creator, 
and is in man the image of the Deity, may be dis- 
torted into the image of coarse brutality. Talent, 
genius, the loftiest faculties of man, may be per- 
verted into instruments of the lowest, basest, and 
most unmanly uses. Christianity has been both 
misapprehended and misused. Can Christianity in- 
culcate the most godlike mercy, the most unlimited 
benevolence, and the most universal brotherhood, 
and still lead practically to intolerance, hatred, and 
barbarous cruelty? The indisputable facts afford 
conclusive evidence of some fundamental misunder- 
standing or misapplication. 

Need we travel far, or speculate profoundly, to 
detect the essential mistake ? Is it not obvious 
29 



338 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

enough that the point of misunderstanding has 
been that of striving for a uniformity of belief which 
man should never have expected, and which Chris- 
tianity does not contemplate ? 

Churches have made the chief requirement an 
agreement of interpretation, instead of purity of 
character and the practice of benevolence. They 
have made Christianity only a scheme adapted to an 
exigency in the remotest past, and a contingency in 
the remotest future, instead of principles adapted to 
the present, and to every condition and every action 
of every rational being. It is thus that Christianity 
has become an external and dead form, rather than 
an internal and living spirit, diffusing itself through, 
and extending itself over, modifying, transforming, 
and regenerating all things which require to be 
changed, transformed, or regenerated. 

But many changes have occurred ; transformations 
numerous are in actual progress. During the seventy- 
seven years since that memorable day of which to- 
morrow will be the anniversary, we have spread the 
myriad wings of commerce, and, visiting every clime 
and every race, we have returned laden with the 
treasures of fraternal charity, as well as the luxuries 
demanded by an affluent civilization. We have 
discovered that there are, as St. Peter declares, " in 
every nation, those who fear God and work right- 
eousness," and that " God is no respecter of per- 
sons." Still more, by the vast facilities of intercom- 
munication, we see our government, like the great 
orb of day, spreading the shield of its protection 
over the most opposing religions among men. 

Some few are startled from their sectarian com- 



WITH REFERENCE TO CHRISTIANITY. 



339 



posure, by learning that a heathen temple, contain- 
ing its heathen gods, is erected on our Western 
coast; — there being now, as variously estimated, 
from thirty to fifty thousand Chinese in the State of 
California, where they have erected an edifice for 
their own worship. 

Thus, under our protecting laws, stand in equal 
freedom, side by side, the Christian Church, the 
Jewish Synagogue, and the Heathen Temple. Shall 
we utter complaints or indulge fears ? Where then 
is our faith in the divine truth and subduing power 
of our religion ? Is Christianity endangered by the 
proximity of an idolatrous worship ? We despatch 
missionaries to subvert the religion of the Pagan, 
and shall we dread results, when, instead of shrink- 
ing from us, the Pagan comes to us and challenges 
investigation ? It is true our Christian brother of 
Britain sends the Gospel to China, but he enforces 
it with guns. He offers them Bibles with the alter- 
native of bullets, and sends them preachers accom- 
panied with powder. He invites them to the king- 
dom of Heaven, but the foretaste of its glories he 
gives in the ecstasies produced by opium and rum. 
He tells them of Christian saints, and gives them 
examples in drunken sailors and brutal soldiers. 
The Chinese Emperor had learned something of 
Christian history when he said, " I want no Chris- 
tianity in my empire, for these Christians whiten 
the soil with human bones wherever they go." It 
should not be amazing if his Majesty had deemed it 
his duty to send us some missionaries to teach us, 
according to his view, some lessons of charity, and 
convince us of the virtues of humanity and peace. 



340 



THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 



Some of the sternly disciplined leaders of secta- 
rianism, who exercise a feeble faith in the inherent 
power of truth, appear to dread this latitude of civil 
liberty, which protects, even in a Christian land, the 
practice of a heathen worship. But the multitudes 
have less distrust of goodness and of God. They 
feel that in Christianity there is a divine element of 
truth which can never suffer by comparison with 
heathen error, and they see that our government, 
thus far in its operation, is like the Deity, who causes 
his sun to shine on the ignorant and the wise, the 
evil and the good. The mass of men, though at- 
tached to the systems and churches of their child- 
hood, are yet interested, as all observation testifies, 
as much in the advancement of society as in the or- 
ganism of their church. They love man more than 
they love their creed ; they study universal truth more 
than their prescribed doctrines; and they labor more 
for the advancement of Christian liberty than for 
their sectarian success. 

As a nation, we experience an unexampled de- 
gree of material prosperity, and it is true that in the 
multiform activities we do not always find a due 
regard to religious agencies and religious principles. 
But this indifference is not enmity, — it is not even 
opposition. Railway companies may build cost- 
ly depots rather than splendid churches, but they 
are strengthening the principle of united social ac- 
tion. They may increase the percentage of their 
dividends, but they are also increasing the sympa- 
thies of a divided people, and blending the interests 
of separated communities. Every car rushing over 
city and county lines, and recognizing no State 



WITH REFERENCE TO CHRISTIANITY. 341 

limits, is a herald of good tidings, a harbinger of 
peace, a proclaimer of good- will. The lines of iron 
network, far and wide extending through the atmos- 
phere, are electric nerves by which the whole nation 
thrills to the same impulse and vibrates to the same 
touch, and through which millions may sympathize, 
from Occident to Orient, from the Pole to the 
Equator. 

These inventions of art, and material agents, are 
not enemies of religion. They are mighty moral 
forces. For by extinguishing distances we are de- 
stroying differences ; by bringing people nearer to 
each other, we obliterate the lines which have divid- 
ed them; by joining their social sympathies, we 
weaken their religious prejudices. 

To men and women who daily enter the same 
doors, travel in the same cars, reside in the same 
hotels, and sit at the same tables, the rumblings of 
pulpit thunder soon loose their terrors, and priestly 
denunciations are soon regarded as harmless out- 
bursts of venerable fretfulness, — the complainings 
of a spirit of restless exclusiveness, declining of old 
age, and unhappy even in its departing hours, as a 
righteous retribution for making others miserable 
while it lived*, I would not be understood as pre- 
dicting the speedy advent of a millennium of na- 
tional love and brotherhood and glory. I would 
neither overlook nor underrate the obstacles yet to 
be surmounted by the benevolent spirit of Chris- 
tianity. For there is still existing, as we have seen, 
a domineering spirit of church authority, Protestant 
as well as Romanist, which, if armed with civil 
power, would soon stifle all free thought, and check 
29* 



342 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 



all outward progress which might be deemed incom- 
patible with religious tyranny. 

Still more, there is a servility to public prejudice, 
an obsequiousness to fashion, and a timeserving 
dread of popular shadows, which must be displaced 
by the inspiration of a strong sense of human 
dignity, a free, firm consciousness of manly inde- 
pendence, before permanent and rapid progress can 
be made in the real liberty of the Gospel. 

But, with a republican government well estab- 
lished, and now growing venerable by years, — with 
liberty of conscience and liberty of speech unre- 
strained by violence, — with foreign commerce and 
domestic enterprise, — with a common language, a 
common literature, and a free press, — with benev- 
olent unions of every form, having in view no polit- 
ical or sectarian designs, but moral objects, social 
improvement, and mutual aid, uniting men of all 
parties, classes, sects, and religions, — with all these, 
potent agencies in free and successful operation, 
spiritual tyranny and church exclusiveness cannot 
hope for immortality. Their days are numbered, 
and union and brotherhood must triumph. 

In the rapid and sanguinary revolutions of Eu- 
rope, from despotism to liberty, then back from 
republicanism to monarchy, many of the unhappy 
millions may be distrustful and discouraged in the 
cause of truth. They may be unable to determine 
whether the present aspect of affairs is but one of 
the vicissitudes of an eternal revolution, which, in 
the history of nations, must always mark the chang- 
ing fortunes of mankind, or whether it is only the 
precursor of a mighty convulsion which shall shake 



WITH REFERENCE TO CHRISTIANITY. 



343 



the continent; — a solemn calm, with darkly gather- 
ing clouds, before the eruption of volcanic fires, now 
burning and gathering strength in the bosom of the 
people, but which, in a devouring torrent, shall one 
day sweep away every vestige of venerable tyran- 
nies, preparatory to the renovation of the social 
heavens and social earth, for a new, better, and more 
enduring condition of the European race. . 

But with our peaceful security, unparalleled free- 
dom, general intelligence, commercial relations, and 
lofty position before the world, we clearly see that 
our mission is a moral mission. If to any people on 
earth is indicated by Providence a work to do, it is 
clearly ours, to solve the problem of religious liberty 
and Christian union. To embody and exemplify 
the alliance of religion and morals, to reconcile prac- 
tically and for ever the two great commandments, 
duty to God and duty to man, — love to our Father 
and love to our brother, — Divine worship and 
human fraternity. 

The final conflict between spiritual authority and 
spiritual freedom has not yet been fought. The vic- 
tory of free thought has not yet been secured. To 
some of its auxiliaries in our land and age, we have 
now adverted.s Church despotisms, both Romanist 
and Protestant, feel the reins of power over human 
conscience gliding rapidly from their reluctant hands, 
and in voice of lamentation they are bewailing the 
ungodliness of the age. It is only an age of doubt, 
they tell us, — an age of faithlessness, an age of 
gross impiety. But I would tell them that, having 
eyes, they see not, because of their own stolid infatua- 
tion ; that this is an age of unexampled energy, 



344 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

and benevolence, and beneficence, and faith in the 
power of goodness, rather than of plans, schemes, 
articles, and confessions ; that the world is moving 
while they stand still, and that the motion of the 
time is not backward, but onward, and pacific, and 
humane ; that the watchwords of our country are 
union and brotherhood, — the very heart of the Chris- 
tian philosophy, the very standard from the sacred 
lips of Jesus : " By this shall all men know that ye 
are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." 

Yes, it is here that the Sun of righteousness is to 
reach the zenith of its earthly glory. If not here, in 
this land, where every religion is protected, where 
every conscience is held sacred, — where no rack, 
no stake, no scaffold, can intimidate, — where no 
church, no creed, priest, or preacher can interpose 
earthly authority between the soul and its Creator, 
— if not here, then explore the globe and tell 
me where. Consider the present and presage the 
future, and tell me when and where the problem 
of religious liberty can be resolved ? Tell me 
when and where opinion unrestrained, and co- 
operation in unity of spirit, can be practicable or be 
possible. The truth has been declared, the decree 
has gone forth. The angel of a free faith stands 
with one foot upon the land and one upon the sea 
of this last-born hemisphere, and affirms in the name 
of God, and of human welfare, that the terrors of 
religious tyranny shall be here no longer. 

It is said of the brave Reformer of the sixteenth 
century, that he then blew a blast which shook all 
Europe. But that blast was blown for only a par- 
tial emancipation of the soul from spiritual chains. 



WITH REFERENCE TO CHRISTIANITY. 345 



For by his own hostility to his laboring brethren, the 
Reformer soon discovered that, with all his bold advo- 
cacy of private judgment, he meant by freedom no 
more than a change of masters ; and from that day 
till this, the Reformation, though leading indirectly 
to the best aspects of the present, has been directly 
little else than an exchange of Roman pontiffs for 
Protestant popes. Luther was only the Moses to 
lead to the confines of Canaan, which he saw from 
Pisgah, but not the Joshua to conduct Israel up fully 
into the rich land of promise. 

In the way of independent investigation of Chris- 
tian truth, there is a tyranny of Protestant church 
systems extending its hideous arms into the most 
sacred privacy of social relations, which is as for- 
midable to the timid and unheroic searcher, as the 
racks of a Roman inquisition, which so effectually 
extinguish the evil of heresy. But, superior to the 
spirit either of Romanism or of Protestantism, there 
is a spirit of Christianity, whose heavenly aspect I 
would gladly recognize in the heart of any human 
brother, whether found in a Romanist cathedral or a 
Protestant prayer-meeting. 

We see now some of the potent forces which are 
at work, destroying divisions, and harmonizing sec- 
tions, societies, and the interests of individuals. 
The only method remaining to perpetuate relig- 
ious exclusiveness is to stop steam-cars, take down 
telegraphs, silence the press, and destroy the news- 
paper. For every observer must perceive that rail- 
roads, electric wires, a free press, and a free litera- 
ture are the natural, necessary, uncompromising, and 
eternal enemies of self-complacent and uncharitable 
sectarianism. 



346 



THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 



This day completes seventy-seven years since our 
patriot fathers proclaimed the charter of civil free- 
dom, under which, at this hour, we live and prosper. 
But we have yet to hear proclaimed the declaration 
of the world's religious disenthralment. Give us but 
the pacific policy, the material prosperity, the scien- 
tific discoveries, beneficent inventions, and harmo- 
nizing Christian researches of seventy-seven years 
more, under the protection of our independent gov- 
ernment, and the work is done. In this hemisphere 
spiritual tyranny will have perished, sectarianism 
will have died, its history will have been recorded, 
its epitaph written, the human mind will be free, 
and God will reign supreme sovereign of the soul. 
Three quarters of a century more of & pacific policy! 
Yes, it must be, if at all, — it must be in peace that 
the problem of religious liberty is to be resolved. War 
disorders all, revolution confuses everything. Liter- 
ature, sculpture, painting, music, all the harmoniz- 
ing, refining, and elevating arts are unpatronized, 
suspended, often crushed, in war. The resources of 
the nation are then turned in a wrong direction, and 
employed to uncivilize society. Our own country, 
directly or indirectly, within the last twelve years, 
has expended in war a sufficient amount of money 
to have purchased all the territory she has acquired, 
and besides this to have built a college in every city, 
perhaps in every county, of this broad Union, afford- 
ing each a handsome perpetual endowment, by which 
every child now living in this land might, as far as 
capable, have been liberally educated, to say nothing 
of the loss of human life and human happiness, 
which no words can describe, and no figures cal- 



WITH REFERENCE TO CHRISTIANITY. 



347 



culate. Such are the painful trials to which we are 
subjecting our Christian faith, the peculiar message 
of which proclaims peace on earth and good-will 
among men. Both the war and the expenditure 
may have been necessary and inevitable ; yet, in this 
nineteenth century of enlightened Christianity, all 
such expenditure appears to indicate the passing 
strange short-sightedness of human action. The 
religious mission of our country, the power of our 
religion itself among ourselves, manifestly depend 
upon our peaceful policy. 

Surely there is a glorious day yet to come, and 
though we may not, the generations who follow us 
will see and enjoy it. Let us cherish grateful mem- 
ories this day of the noble deeds and virtues of our 
departed fathers, as we would be gratefully remem- 
bered by those who shall succeed us. 

Now may each of us, and all, enjoy the benedic- 
tion of the God of our fathers, who is our God, and 
the God of the eternal future. 



DISCOURSE XXIV. 



WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY 1 WHO IS A 
UNITARIAN? 

YE SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE 

you free. — John viii. 32. 

THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, EVEN AS WE ARE ONE. — John 

xvii. 22. 

ENDEAVORING TO KEEP THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT IN THE 
BOND OF PEACE. — Eph. iv. 3. 

A name is inevitable. Some, it is said, " are born 
great, some achieve greatness, and some have great- 
ness thrust upon them." So it seems to be, in some 
sense, with names. A name is voluntarily chosen, 
or it is imputed. Some seem to be born with names, 
some achieve names, and some have names thrust 
upon them. 

It is the same with bodies of men as with indi- 
viduals. And neither can any name be adopted 
voluntarily, nor any assigned involuntarily, without 
liability to misconstruction. Names are descriptive 
usually, or are designed to be descriptive, in some 
particular or particulars, of the persons or communi- 
ties which adopt or receive them. All names being 



WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 349 

liable to misconstruction, it frequently occurs that 
a name is regarded as describing those who bear it 
in some certain particulars in which it does not de- 
scribe them. Sometimes a name is understood in a 
sense too confined, and sometimes in a sense too * 
extended. 

No name among Christians has for half a century 
been more misrepresented, nor is any now more mis- 
understood, than that of Unitarians. For three cen- 
turies, the names Roman Catholic and Protestant 
have designated two great divisions, the one, as its 
name indicates, claiming universal obedience to the , 
Pontiff' of Rome ; the other, as its name indicates, 
standing opposed to, or protesting against, the Roman 
Catholic claims. The Protestant, or protesting di- 
vision, is subdivided into Episcopal and Presbyte- 
rian, Methodist and Baptist, and innumerable other 
divisions. They all alike resemble the Roman Cath- 
olic in this respect, — that each division and sub- 
division prescribes some article of faith concerning 
God or man, time or eternity, or some external rite 
or ceremony, as an essential or prerequisite to admis- 
sion among them, — to the enjoyment of what they 
are pleased to style Christian fellowship, by which is 
to be understood fellowship with their party. In 
this respect the term Unitarian expresses a peculi- 
arity distinct from both the Protestant and Roman 
Catholic. Seeing that no article of faith, that no 
external rite, produces the unity of belief which it is 
designed to produce, we propose that men shall not 
be Protestant Christians with a Protestant creed, not 
Roman Catholic Christians with a Roman Catholic 
creed, nor Presbyterians with a Presbyterian creed, 
30 



350 WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 

nor Episcopalians with an Episcopalian creed, nor 
any peculiar sect with a sectarian creed, but that we 
all shall be united or Unitarian Christians, aside from 
all creeds and all rites, each mind being fully per- 
suaded for itself, adopting its own creed, and express- 
ing that faith by such outward rites as it may re- 
gard as Scriptural, reasonable, just, and proper, — no 
church, no organization, no minister, no confession, 
no ceremony, presuming to interpose between the 
human soul and God ; — acknowledging the claim of 
every man who makes it to the name of Christian, 
and deciding his title to that name solely by his daily 
and uniform deportment, by his practical obedience 
to Christian precepts and principles, by his invariable 
conduct towards man and his reverence towards 
God, and not by any one public profession, nor 
any one outward ceremonial ; — at the same time 
leaving every man, agreeably to his own sense of ob- 
ligation, so far as he does not trespass on the con- 
science or liberty of another, to make such public 
profession, and adopt such ritual observances, as he 
may deem conducive to his own moral and spiritual 
advancement. 

The source of the common misapprehension is 
obvious. So thoroughly are minds in the world of 
Christendom imbued with the idea that all fellow- 
ship must be founded on some verbal statement of 
belief, that they understand the term Unitarian in a 
narrow and sectarian sense, as referring only to a 
certain theory of the nature of God, — that God is 
one instead of three, — that the term Unitarian des- 
ignates only a sect, based on antagonism to the doc- 
trine of the Trinity. That God is, in his being, ab- 



WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 351 

solutely one, — one nature, one person, — most of 
those who are known as Unitarian Christians do 
hold, as their individual opinions; but not all. In 
this sense I myself am a Unitarian ; but when I 
speak of Unitarian Christians, I employ a term de- 
scriptive of them as Christians, and not descriptive 
of God as a person. When I say I believe in the 
strict personal unity of God, this is one thing and 
easily understood; but when I speak of Unitarian 
Christians, I express a character of the men, the 
Christians themselves, and not of the God they wor- 
ship. Although I find no such term as Trinity in 
Scripture, although I find no such phrase in the Bible 
as God the Son, or God the Holy Ghost, — or the 
divine nature, or the human nature, of Christ, — yet 
to question any man who chooses to worship at 
the same altar with me, whether he believes in the 
theory expressed by these phrases of the creeds, is 
no right, is no concern of mine, except so far as we 
may desire to compare our opinions personally. He 
may hold to the Trinity in the Divine nature, and all 
its kindred doctrines ; yet if, so far from regarding 
these as essential doctrines, he unites with me in 
worship, and in Christian benevolence and effort to 
live the Christian life, he is a Unitarian Christian. 
He may be at the same time a nominal member of a 
Roman Catholic church, or a Protestant church of 
any sect, and still, if, so far from regarding the creed 
and observances of that church as essential to the 
Christian name, or essential to my present or eternal 
welfare, he concede to me the Christian name, and 
grant that, however true his creed to him, he does 
not assume infallibility, or pronounce it essential to 



352 WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 

my welfare, — then I regard him, and every such 
man, as a Unitarian Christian. Ecclesiastical his- 
tory abundantly testifies, that concerning the nature 
and person of God, and the nature and rank of Jesus 
the Christ, no creed was established, no opinion was 
exacted, no verbal statement was prescribed by the 
churches or congregations, for three hundred years 
after the time of Jesus. During the third and fourth 
centuries, every species of speculation became ram- 
pant; Greek converts with their Greek philosophy, 
— Roman converts with the lingering vestiges of 
Roman polytheism, — Hebrew converts with their 
Hebrew ceremonies and traditions, — Egyptian and 
other converts with their several prejudices, — each 
striving to modify Christianity, both as to rites and 
doctrines, by his former and original peculiarities. 
Contest arose on almost every agitated question 
concerning God, man, Jesus, as well as on the forms 
and manner of worship. Then the word Trinity 
was for the first time used. The word is nowhere 
in the Bible, and was never found in any book or 
writing of Christians till used in the third century 
by Theophilus, a bishop of Antioch. 

As to the nature and rank and offices of Jesus, 
every variety of opinion existed ; but the dispute as 
to the strict unity of God's person, on the one hand, 
and the trinity of persons, on the other hand, be- 
came so violent, that it had to be settled by the votes 
of a General Council. All parties have prominent 
men or leaders, and in this contest Arius was chief 
in defending the strict unity of God's person, while 
Athanasius advocated a trinity of persons in God, 
insisting that Jesus and the Holy Spirit, though dis- 



WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 353 

tinct persons, were each one God, as well as the Su- 
preme Father and Creator, and yet that there were 
not three Gods but one God. The Emperor Con- 
stantine endeavored to settle the dispute by calling a 
Council, which, after fierce discussion, in the year 325, 
decided by vote that Jesus was also God, and yet that 
there were not two Gods, but one. Thus 318 bishops 
by their votes decided what should be the world's creed. 
Another Council, however, fifty-six years after, ter- 
minated the contest by voting that the Holy Spirit 
was also God, and yet that there were not three 
Gods, but one. Both these parties, you perceive, ac- 
knowledged — or at least there was no alternative 
to the minority — the authority of the Council, 
the church and state, in this decision. Taking the 
names of the leaders, the two parties were known as 
Athanasians and Arians. They did not style them- 
selves Trinitarians and Unitarians. These terms 
were not employed in those days. 

Although these Councils decided what opinions 
should be publicly taught, they could not decide what 
men should think. Consequently, twelve hundred 
years after, as soon as the change called the Reforma- 
tion took place, the same contest revived, as soon as 
men were allowed to express their thoughts ; and the 
first martyr burned at the stake by Protestants, for his 
opinions, was Dr. Servetus, whom John Calvin had 
burned in the streets of Geneva, because he would 
not acknowledge belief in the Trinity. At this time 
Socinus was a prominent teacher, who held to the 
strict unity of God, and those who entertained the 
same or similar sentiments were reproachfully called 
Socinians ; but they themselves took the name of 
30 * 



354 WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 



Unitarian, referring only to their belief concerning 
God. 

Then, sixty years ago, when the same contest oc- 
curred in' this country, in the New England States, 
the two parties bore the name of Trinitarian and 
Unitarian, referring more especially to the question 
in dispute concerning the person of Jesus and the 
nature of God. Most of the Unitarians then were 
disposed to continue to worship with their Trinita- 
rian brethren ; they had no desire to separate them- 
selves, to build new churches, or form a new sect. 
But those who held the doctrine of the Trinity re- 
garded it as essential to the Christian name and to 
the eternal welfare of man, and they expelled the 
Unitarians as heretics, unbelievers, — sometimes de- 
nominating them Infidels. A new issue therefore 
arose. The truth or the untruth of the doctrine of 
the Trinity became a point of minor importance, and 
the real question then became this: Has any church, 
or body of men, a right to exclude, condemn, stig- 
matize and pronounce judgment on other men, for 
a difference of opinion, — for a different understand- 
ing of words of Scripture ? 

The Unitarians then became the representatives 
and champions of entire freedom of mind and con- 
science, repudiating all ecclesiastical authority, and 
defending liberty of thought in religion, no less than 
in politics, — insisting on the principle of progress 
in religious science, no less than in natural science. 
And such is the position now occupied by those 
who take the name of Unitarian Christians, i. e. 
united or union Christians, — just as these are Unit- 
ed or Unitarian States of America. They claim the 



WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY I 



355 



right of every society of worshippers to organize so 
far, and in such manner, as those composing it may 
deem expedient, for the advancement of liberal prin- 
ciples and virtuous lives; — to adopt such modes of 
worship, such rites and ceremonies, as may seem best 
adapted to promote their individual good, and the 
general welfare of society, — each congregation and 
each individual being responsible to established gov- 
ernment for the observance or disobedience of its laws. 
A study of mental phenomena, the faculties and op- 
erations of the human mind, — a study of human his- 
tory in all past ages, — a careful observation of socie- 
ties and institutions, churches, and their observances, 
— satisfy us that perfect coincidence of opinion or 
doctrine never has existed, and does not exist; that 
no such verbal or doctrinal concurrence is contem- 
plated by Christianity ; that it is morally impossible, 
and therefore never to be expected. 

What therefore remains, but to seek for such agree- 
ment and co-operation as is entirely practicable ? 
And what this is, Scripture happily joins with ex- 
perience and observation in indicating to mankind. 
The true unity is described in Scripture as " unity 
of spirit in the bond of peace." This unity is 
that which we, as Unitarian Christians, are striving 
to attain ; and so far have we been successful, that, 
while fifty years ago not five congregations, nor per- 
haps five hundred persons in the United States, could 
be found to take this open, independent attitude, 
now more than a million of the intelligent population 
of our country openly declare themselves, in senti- 
ment and practice, Unitarian Christians. As to 
Antitrinitarians, or Unitarians in a mere dogmatic 
sense, there are upwards of three millions. 



356 WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 

We are confirmed in the truth and propriety of 
our position, when we now see that the most arbi- 
trary verbal statements fail to unite men who sub- 
scribe to the same articles. For churches holding 
the same creeds, and the same form of organization, 
separate and oppose and denounce each other, as 
perverters of the truth, each claiming to defend the 
same written formula. 

We see that those adhering to the same rite as 
essential, such as baptism, and to the same mode of 
administration, such as immersion, separate and 
denounce each other as heretical. Hence we have 
Presbyterian Old School and New School, and other 
varieties, subscribing to the same confession, yet refus- 
ing Christian fellowship with each other. We have 
High- Church and Low- Church Episcopalians, sub- 
scribing the same articles, yet condemning each party 
the other in the bluntest terms. We see Episcopal 
Methodists, and Protestant Methodists, and Wesley- 
an Methodists, and other Methodists, holding the 
same fundamental doctrines, yet carrying on a cease- 
less internal warfare. We see Missionary Baptists, 
and Anti-missionary Baptists, and other varieties of 
Baptists, agreeing in the same essential rites, yet 
opposing each other with a violence that would dis- 
credit the partisans of political controversy. Amidst 
all this din, and dust, and confusion of sectarian 
warfare, we discern the only path of repose and 
safety, not in unity of organizations, not in unity of 
rites and ceremonies, not in unity of doctrines and 
written articles, not in a professed unity of faith, not 
in a supposed unity of inward experiences ; but sim- 
ply in unity of spirit in the bond of peace. As we 



WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY? 357 

differ in bodily conformation, and yet peacefully re- 
side in the same house, just as universally and en- 
tirely are we to differ in our perceptions of truth and 
its relations, and yet peacefully co-operate in the same 
offices of benevolence, meet in the same temple, and 
unite in the same expressions of grateful reverence 
to God, discussing every topic of faith and duty, of 
doctrine and practice, with the largest liberty of 
thought, implying no obligation on the part of any 
hearer to adopt the sentiments of the speaker, ex- 
cept so far as they commend themselves to his judg- 
ment and his conscience, and with no implied obli- 
gation on the part of the speaker to conform himself 
to the opinions of his hearers. 

But lest you may regard my use of the term Uni- 
tarian as wholly arbitrary and singular, let me refer 
you to an illustration of the same use of the term 
in a political sense. In an article from a London 
periodical (the London Leader) on " Parties in Italy," 
the writer speaks in these terms : — " Monarchism as 
a positive element, as a source of life and progress, 
never entered into the historical tradition of Italy. It 
has ever been an icy incubus, stopping the beatings 
of the nation's heart. It has during three hundred 
years hermetically kept down the tombstone over all 

collective movement, and unitarian aspirations 

Italy is essentially republican, essentially unitarian. 
She is so by all her tradition and her instincts, — 
she is so by her solidarity with Europe." * Here 
you observe that the political spirit of Italy, her col- 
lective movement, is called Unitarian aspiration, — 
and by her instincts and traditions, by her solidarity 



* See Christian Inquirer of January 31, 1852. 



358 WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY? 

with Europe, she is styled by the writer essentially 
republican, essentially Unitarian. Unity of thought 
or of action, unity in some respect, is always regard- 
ed as a desirable and important characteristic. The 
Church of Rome has always greatly prided itself on 
its unity, but its unity is only a unity of authority, 
a unity of organization, a ritual unity. Whence 
have come all the sects and subdivisions of the Prot- 
estant world, at which she points so scornfully ? 
They have all proceeded from the bosom of w T hat 
she chooses to style her unity. She hooped and 
pressed her several parts so strongly, that the mate- 
rial could be pressed no longer; and repeated explo- 
sions have occurred, scattering into fragments her 
mere outward unity. 

A want of the true unity, the only reasonable 
unity, unity of a peaceful spirit, — the want of this 
among the churches, among religionists of every 
kind, is very plausibly and fairly made a plea for the 
existence and support of the various mutual benevo- 
lent associations of our day and of our country. In 
an address delivered some time since at an annual 
celebration of one of the existing benevolent orders 
of our country, I find this plea offered in these very 
words. The speaker says : " At the present day, the 
multiplicity of religious sects into which Christen- 
dom is divided, justifies the establishment of some 
common ground where the parties may forget their 
feuds, and unite their efforts in discharging the re- 
ciprocal duties of this life. While they individually 
maintaiu the faith by which their religious com- 
munion is distinguished, this association, so far from 
working evil, will produce mutual respect and esteem, 



WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 359 

and by unity of benevolent action pave the way to 
unity of faith. The tendencies of our order," con- 
tinues this writer, "in a political point of view, may 
be estimated by the harmonizing influence it exerts 
over the angry passions and discordant dispositions 
of our nature, and the wide dissemination of that 
moral virtue which is the true cement of our civil 
institutions." Now this indicates exactly the defect 
of the churches of Christendom, and the want which 
we as Unitarian Christians propose to meet, the de- 
mand which we believe can be supplied. We pro- 
pose to effect, not only unity of a spirit of benevo- 
lence, but also unity of a spirit of religion. 

Is this thought to be — is it alleged to be — im- 
practicable ? You have only to recall the fact, that 
the Jews were divided into sects differing in opinion 
as widely as the remotest sects of Christians, and yet 
they, for the whole nation, had but one great temple, 
at which the whole people joined in worship. So 
various were their sentiments, that, while one part 
believed in a future existence, others believed in no 
future existence, good or bad. Still they worshipped 
by the same priesthood, and in the same church. 
Impracticable ! why, unity in diversity, co-operation 
without compromise of individual sentiment, is the 
grand feature^ of our times, our social life, our pro- 
gressive civilization. Is it not by united or unitarian 
companies that we build railways across states and 
nations? Is it not by unitarian companies that we ex- 
tend electric telegraphs between the remotest points, 
bringing the word and spirit of man into contact 
with the word and spirit of man ? Is it not by uni- 
tarian companies that the great manufacturing pro- 



360 WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 



cesses are carried on, the great commercial enter- 
prises undertaken, and the facilities and agents of 
our whole material and intellectual civilization cre- 
ated and carried into operation ? What are cities 
themselves but unitarian communities, living har- 
moniously under the same municipal regulations ? 

Then as to moral enterprises, how is it that in the 
halls of the various benevolent associations are found, 
seated side by side, men of the most discordant sen- 
timents, — men from every party in politics and from 
every sect in religion ? How is it that in this ca- 
pacity, and feeling no concession of individual right, 
no compromise of personal opinion, they each ad- 
dress the other fraternally by the sacred name of 
brother ? Is there no significance in this ? 

Yes, it speaks, and in tones loud enough to startle 
every church from its torpidity. It tells us that the 
very instincts of human nature demand sympathy, 
benevolent sympathy, — and unity, a spiritual unity. 
And still more, it should teach the churches that this 
sympathy is attainable, and this unity is practicable. 
Up from the churches, it is true, comes a continual 
strain of lamentation over the divisions and desola- 
tions of Zion. But what remedy are they proposing 
for the evil? They pray, and they hope for union ; 
but how much nearer are they now, than ever before, 
to the consummation of their hopes ? Where is their 
physician to prescribe, and their balm of Gilead to 
heal the malady ? 

Every year, almost every month, some new schism 
occurs ; a fresh dispersion, a new subdivision, a new 
sect, appears. Alike each old one with the new 
bears aloft its party banner, its exclusive motto, its 



WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 361 

divine and essential creed, and generation after gen- 
eration leaves the field ; each successive standard- 
bearer lives and dies, and passes from earth, shouting 
the old watchwords ; and each church wonders at 
the obstinacy and depravity of men, that the whole 
world does not rush into its particular fold, and re- 
peat its shibboleth, and bear its superscription. Each 
alike infatuated in devotion to its system, they all 
fail to learn from history, they all fail to profit by ex- 
perience. All the while they fail to perceive that 
man is solving the problem of human progress with- 
out their aid. Unlike Belshazzar in his revelry, they, 
in the intoxication of their zeal, or the blindness of 
their superstitious faith, do not perceive the hand- 
writing on the very wall above their altars, recording 
their fate: " Your kingdom is divided; ye are weighed 
in the balance and found wanting." So ardently 
engaged are they in word-wars, and metaphysical 
discussion, and hair-splitting distinctions, and cold 
criticisms, and internal experiences of grace, and 
frenzied exclamations of glorious visions, and extrav- 
agant professions of guilt and penitence, they do 
not perceive that the golden thread of human love is 
passing silently from hand to hand, through all the 
churches, and that those who touch it are electrified 
and attracted, ^and, discovering latent and slumbering 
in every bosom the great vivifying principle of be- 
nevolence, are turning their backs upon the con- 
tracted precincts of sectarianism, are ascending to 
the broad, high, heavenly platform of humanity, 
are discovering, the new commandment of Chris- 
tianity, that "ye should love one another," and 
are silently unfolding the grand central principle of 
31 



362 WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 

Christian fraternity, the divine revelation of human 
brotherhood. 

The sublime idea of spiritual unity is taking pos- 
session of the world, and nothing but the infatuating 
power of religious prejudice can account for the as- 
tounding obtuseness of religious leaders to the fact 
that members of all their exclusive communions are 
evincing their determination to develop the fraternal 
element in their nature, their fixed resolve to seek 
out and detect the smothered embers of virtue in 
every human breast, — to find out every point of 
human sympathy, and every means of virtuous co- 
operation. 

Hundreds of every church are virtually saying to 
their priesthood: " You may classify us on Sundays 
into saints and sinners, friends and enemies of God, 
but you cannot prevent us on Mondays from uniting 
to recognize the universal paternity of the Almighty. 
As Roman Catholics or Protestants, as Presbyteri- 
ans or Baptists, you may deny us intercourse in the 
churches, but as Masons, and Odd Fellows, and 
Sons of Temperance, you cannot deprive us of in- 
tercourse in the lodge-rooms. As church-members 
you may separate us one day in the week, but as 
Christian men we will unite our hearts and hands, 
our words and deeds, for the remaining six days of 
the week." I am not a member of any of these so- 
cieties, but to me, as to all men, this is their lan- 
guage, the loud language of human action, which 
the clergy in the Babel confusion of their controver- 
sies do not hear. The author of the address to 
which I have already alluded, partakes of the com- 
mon error of separating faith from works, and re- 



WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 363 



iigion from morality. In defending his order from 
the allegation of a tendency to supplant or come 
in conflict with the Church, he says of it: "It has 
no religious creed. It does not profess to teach 
original truth, but it simply unites men to practise 
those duties which are universally admitted to be 
right and proper. If it invaded the functions of the 
Church by daring to teach a religious system, it 
would long since have been discovered by thousands 
who delight to do it honor, and, in place of defend- 
ing, they would have been found fighting, shoulder 
to shoulder, with the foremost of our opposers." 

So this advocate of the secular order announces 
that it has no religious creed, but simply unites men 
to practise those duties which are universally admitted 
to be right and proper. The function of the Church, 
echoes the minister from the pulpit, is to teach a 
religious system. So that teaching a religious sys- 
tem, it appears, is one thing, and putting to practice 
the duties universally acknowledged to be right and 
proper, is another and different thing. And the secu- 
lar order, in discharging its functions, does not in- 
vade the functions of the Church. Here is the great 
error the Church is still committing, — she separates 
teaching from acting, — she substitutes believing for 
doing, — she preaches, but does not practise. Does 
the sectarian tell me that religion is for another, a 
future and eternal world ? I tell him religion is for 
this present and temporal world too, and no less than 
for a future. Does he tell me religion is a divine 
plan to save the soul ? I tell him it is a divine prin- 
ciple to save the soul and body also. Does he tell 
me that Christianity is a scheme to save the soul 



364 WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY? 

from the consequences in an eternal world of sin in 
this world? I tell him Christianity is not a scheme, 
but a spirit and a truth, to save the soul from sin it- 
self, in this world and in all worlds, just as far as 
that truth and spirit are embraced. And it is be- 
cause men want such a religion, such a spirit, and 
such a truth, and because they do not find it in the 
teachings and the creeds and the ceremonies of the 
churches, that they testify the existence of the di- 
vine nature and tendency within them, by seeking 
elsewhere, in other associations, by other methods, 
for a recognition of this divine communion. These 
societies all profess to develop Christian principles, 
to practise Christian virtues, — thereby virtually de- 
claring, and declaring truly, that the churches fail to 
develop and practise the Christian virtues. But is 
the Church the embodiment and exponent of Chris- 
tian principles, and should she not do all that these 
societies are designed to do ? Should not Christians, 
as Christians, do all that these members of societies 
do as members of these societies ? I thank God for 
these societies, since churches divide men rather than 
unite them ; but is it not the golden rule and funda- 
mental precept of Christianity, to do to others as we 
would that they should do to us ? Christians can 
unite, — they will unite, — they must unite, before 
Christianity can perform its mission. But the effi- 
cient unity can never be a verbal unity ; it can be 
neither doctrinal unity nor ritual unity. The whole 
history and present aspects of the world afford evi- 
dence amounting to demonstration, that a peaceful 
unity, a Unitarian spirit, is essentia], and is entirely 
practicable, among Christians. There is a platform 
broad and strong enough for all. 



WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 365 

We all believe in God, the omnipotent Creator, 
the just Ruler, the moral Governor, the beneficent 
Father of the universe; and beyond the revelation 
of Scripture and the revelation of nature, we require 
no creed to make this declaration. We all acknowl- 
edge the necessity of obedience to the law of God, 
which governs our corporeal, our intellectual and 
spiritual nature ; and we require no written formula 
to declare this. We all acknowledge the two com- 
mandments "of Jesus of Nazareth, love to our God, 
and love to our fellow-man, as comprehending the 
all-sufficient and only means of obedience to the 
laws of God ; and beyond the New Testament teach- 
ings, we require no written creed to declare this. 

Here, then, every essential truth, every essential 
principle, is admitted by all claiming to be Chris- 
tians. The churches are like prisms, separating the 
rays of divine light ; but hope, truth, and love form 
the great lens which is to collect the scattered rays 
of truth reflected from all human hearts, and blend 
them into one harmonious picture of benevolence 
and peace. 

Sometimes we hear the largest liberty commend- 
ed where it is not greatly practised. Not long since, 
in one of the most prominent Presbyterian periodi- 
cals in our country, the New York Evangelist (June 
14, 1849), in an article on the words " The Church 
and our Church," I find the following description 
of the model church. The writer says : " If any 
church would establish itself as a model church, let 
it adopt these Christian principles. Let it proclaim 
that it is not laboring for a polity, for an ordinance, 
for a name, for a sectarian creed born from some old 
31* 



366 WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 

philosophy, but simply to disseminate the Gospel, to 
promote all human improvement. Let it not there- 
fore seek to multiply its works of denominationalism 
by multiplying denominational institutions ; but let 
it seek to distinguish itself from all others by its 
charity and generosity, by its readiness to throw 
aside unimportant differences, and by setting forth 
clearly and prominently the great truths and duties 
of the Church, and by daring to base itself upon 
them. We should like to see a denominationalism 
arise from a struggle to promote the unity of all the 
disciples of our Lord. We should like to see a 
church marking its revival and progress, not by ef- 
forts simply to build up itself, by giving a new im- 
pulse to all its sectarian machinery, but by entering 
into so broad a movement of Christian love, that it 
would avoid at every point the renewal of those im- 
practicable controversies and conflicts, which have 
not always brought enlargement to our Church, 
while they have invariably inflicted wounds upon the 
Church." 

Such is this Presbyterian's description of the 
model church. Such is the church he would like to 
see arise from a struggle to promote the unity of all 
Christian disciples. Let him rejoice and say with 
Simeon, " Behold, mine eyes have seen thy salvation." 
Such is the platform on which we stand. Such is 
the work in which we offer him a place and a posi- 
tion, with the sacrifice of none of his opinions ; he 
may retain them all. Our object is to promote all 
human improvement, and the unity of all Christian 
disciples. We are therefore Unitarian Christians, — 
we are entering into a broad movement of Christian 



WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 367 



love. With any movement narrower than this, — 
whether under the name of Trinitarian or Unitarian, 
I acknowledge no identity, I profess no connection. 

In God the Creator and Ruler and Father of man, 
and in man as the child of God, we believe. In 
man as capable of indefinite and perpetual improve- 
ment, and capable of unspeakable debasement, we 
believe. In Jesus as the representative of divine 
goodness, to reveal truth and enforce it by his own 
example, we believe. In the adaptation of the truths 
he taught, and the principles he exemplified, to warn 
man of error, to guard him from sin, to preserve him 
from wrong, to correct him when in error, to rescue 
him when in vice, to reform him towards virtue, to 
promote his present, continual, and highest welfare, 
and inspire the loftiest hopes, in this we believe. 
And on these broad principles, without prescribing 
them in any written form, we unite to worship God, 
and to labor for our own and the world's good, — 
leaving all doctrines of God's nature, or of the rank of 
Jesus, — in a word, all interpretations of Scripture, 
all abstract theories and outward rites, — to be de- 
termined by the individual soul, responsible to no 
human tribunal, but to the Infinitely Righteous. 

But am I asked how we try, how we discipline, 
how we dispose of a man who outrages all principle, 
defies all obligation, and persists in notorious wick- 
edness ? I reply, that we experience no difficulties 
of this nature, w T e have the strongest security against 
them. We leave every such man to try, to adjudge, 
and to dispose of himself; and, standing as he does 
before the bar of conscience, of society, of public 
sentiment, it requires no long time for him to pro- 



368 WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 

nounce his own sentence, and find his own place. 
We leave such men, for you, his fellow-men, and 
God, his maker, to try and adjudge. With us as a 
worshipper, no less than with the public as a citizen, 
we expect every man to stand upon his dignity as a 
man, upon his honor as a gentleman, and his own 
integrity, his own sense of duty, as a Christian ; and 
in this perfect freedom, in this appeal to every man's 
dignity and honor and integrity, — in this we find the 
very strongest security, the most satisfactory warrant, 
for sincerity and purity of purpose. I would put no 
man out of any community and stigmatize him, as 
long as I could keep him in and make him better. 
Creeds! Disciplines! Baptisms as professions of 
religion ! Does not all history and daily observation 
teach us that there is no creed which a hypocrite 
will not subscribe to promote his own advantage, — 
that there is no rite which a dishonorable man will 
not submit to, to shield himself from obloquy, — 
that there is no profession which an unprincipled 
man will not make to cloak roguery with religion ? 
While good men may rightly use all these means, 
bad men, we see, abuse them. They can be no stand- 
ards. We offer no man such temptations to hypoc- 
risy. We offer no man such a shelter from the eye 
of public scrutiny. We ask for no man's doctrines, 
but we look for his virtues ; we ask for no man's 
creed, but we observe his life. We admit the pro- 
priety of every man's profession of religion ; but we 
look for its reality in his daily conduct. In doc- 
trines, the truest union results from the fullest free- 
dom. It is truly said : " Religion, like poetry, is 
a life, a spirit, that must find its own form from de- 



WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 369 

velopment from within, and cannot be moulded by- 
external constriction ; and the larger freedom you 
have courage to allow, the less will you have to re- 
gret irregularity and distortion, for it has inherently 
a tendency to order and to beauty, only determined, 
not by authoritative mechanism, but by the rhythm 
and symmetry of the affections themselves." * Ex- 
perience has demonstrated to us, as Unitarian Chris- 
tians, the truth of this description, the value of this 
freedom. 

Now, friends, if any here present remain unen- 
lightened as to what I understand to be Unitarian 
Christianity, then I can only reply, that I despair of 
being able to make myself understood. We unite 
to differ. We agree to disagree. We seek unity 
with diversity. We look forward to uniformity of 
mind, no more than to uniformity of body, and by 
imposing no restrictions, we find the strongest con- 
junction. 

This is the unity of spirit that we seek, — this is 
the Unitarian Christianity we would develop. We 
seek the unity of natural science with religious 
science. We seek the unity of Nature's revelation 
with Christian revelation. We seek the unity of 
week-day religion with Sunday religion. We seek 
the unity of all persons and objects, which may 
conduce to the grand design of perpetual human 
progress. The spirit of Unity, Love, the Unitarian 
element, we would diffuse through the whole world 
of existences. The small, the local, the fugitive in- 
terests of life, may continue to divide men into par- 



* J. Martineau on " Church of England." 



370 WHAT IS UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY ? 

ties, and separate them in sentiment. But the great, 
the universal, and enduring interests of men are 
the same, and must unite them. Our present wants 
and real enjoyments are the same; our hopes of the 
future, and our aspirations upward, are one, all one. 
Blinded by their zeal, religious sects and churches 
may continue to build the Babel towers by which 
their elect ones think to wind their way to celestial 
felicities reserved for them. But he, whose eyes are 
open to read the signs of the times, and to interpret 
the moral commotions of the world, may see that 
powerful and time-honored structures are crumbling 
and wearing away, and men are flying out from their 
tottering walls into the open atmosphere, and finding 
refuge in the protecting embrace of God, — whose 
bosom of boundless love can welcome all. The 
prayer of Jesus, " That they may be one, even as we 
are one, — I in them, and thou in me, that they may 
be made perfect in one," — is now realizing itself in 
every invention of art, every discovery of science, 
every grand movement of Christian civilization. 



DISCOURSE XXV. 



THE MIND WHICH WAS IN JESUS. — DIFFERENCE BE- 
TWEEN THE CHRIST AND WHAT IS CALLED CHRIS- 
TIANITY. 

LET THIS MIND BE IN YOTJ, WHICH WAS ALSO IN CHRIST 
JESUS. — Phil. ii. 5. 

The author of this injunction had just referred to 
the characteristics which he summed up in the term 
mind. " Let nothing be done through strife or vain- 
glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other 
better than themselves. Look not every man on his 
own things, but every man also on the things of 
others." These qualities constitute what he signifies 
by the mind of Jesus, advising those whom he ad- 
dressed to imitate this mind. 

A quite different aspect might Christendom have 
now worn, had x societies and churches bearing the 
Christian name made it the chief object of their re- 
searches and efforts to ascertain and imitate this 
mind of Jesus. But it is with a heavy heart that 
every lover of peace and truth must turn to the 
pages of ecclesiastical history. The early Christians 
being Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, each division 
retained more or less of its theology, and each en- 



372 THE MIND WHICH WAS IN JESUS. 

deavored to bring the others to a regard for its pecu- 
liarities, as to times, places, and modes of worship. 
In order to secure the desired consideration, they be- 
gan to arrange and systematize their peculiarities, 
both of modes and opinions, of forms and of faith. 
As nominal Christians increased in number, and be- 
came allied with civil government, each system of 
opinions and forms, more or less perfected, sought 
after a legal and unrivalled pre-eminence ; and thus 
the unholy and unbrotherly strife has continued cen- 
tury after century, leaving the volumes of Church his- 
tory, for ages, down to this hour, little more than a 
mournful record of divisions, wars, persecutions, cen- 
soriousness, and enmity among those, who, in com- 
mon, claimed to be the special conservators and 
teachers of a religion of peace, fraternity, and love. 
Even now, in this very noontide of intelligence, — 
throughout many portions of enlightened Christen- 
dom, — what is the burden of daily, weekly pulpit 
proclamations? Is it the practicability, the duty, 
and the excellence of lowliness of mind, of doing 
nothing through strife and vainglory, each esteem- 
ing other better than himself? Is it to this mind 
of Jesus, that the old, the young, and the whole 
thinking, acting world of mankind, are perpetually 
pointed? 

So far from this, it is still to the necessity of faith 
or belief in certain schemes of redemption, or plans 
of salvation, or means of grace, prescribed by va- 
rious, varying, and contending sects and churches. 

Let us ascend to the highest accessible point of 
observation, and survey impartially the condition of 
what is called the religious world. What does the 



THE MIND WHICH WAS IN JESUS. 373 



beholder witness ? Is it a spacious field of unwea- 
ried industry, of varied and harmonious exertion, — 
some surveying highways and removing obstacles 
in the way of general advancement, — some eradi- 
cating useless growths, and preparing soil for culti- 
vation, — some sowing seeds, and fostering tender 
plants, — some arranging, some training, and some 
pruning valuable trees, — some gathering and pro- 
tecting mature, rich, precious, and life-sustaining 
fruits for the general enjoyment, — each one in his 
sphere laboring successfully, and all without conflict 
co-operating peacefully toward individual and gen- 
eral good ? 

What scenes soever may yet in coming time await 
the observer so favorably situated, certain it^is, that 
no such gratifying and inspiring scene now salutes 
his longing vision. Painful as it sometimes is to 
perceive the truth, it becomes us to acknowledge and 
to utter it, though it be as much in sorrow as in 
love. It is a melancholy sight, which the observer 
sees in the religious world to-day. 

Noble spirits there are, moved by noblest impulses, 
in every party, sect, or circle ; — large hearts there 
are, with ever-enlarging sympathies, toiling and hop- 
ing for the world's welfare, despite the restraints 
which associations throw around them. But, justly 
excepting these, the beholder witnesses a line of 
sects, churches, and religious circles, each with its 
own tent pitched and its own banner flang to the 
breeze, proclaiming hostility to all the others, — each 
ignoring common interests, and declining common 
efforts, — each drawing lines around itself, except 
where it contemplates aggression, invasion, and con- 
32 



374 THE MIND "WHICH WAS IN JESUS. 

quest, — each fortifying itself behind points, and 
pickets, and fiery darts, and flaming swords, as if all 
the others were declared and uncompromising foes, 
— each endeavoring by intimidation, or promise, or 
purchase, or perchance by stratagem or force, to mul- 
tiply its numbers by weakening the ranks of its op- 
ponents, — each striving to concentrate within its 
narrow precincts the light, and heat, and dews and 
rains of heaven, — and, in a word, each virtually or 
directly claiming to monopolize the Infinite God, as 
its patron, its friend, the declared champion of its pe- 
culiar standard, — and, greatest anomaly of all, each 
one placing high upon its warlike banners the name 
of the pure Prince of Peace, the greatest teacher 
of brotherhood and love, who enjoined that nothing 
should be done through strife and vainglory, but in 
lowliness of mind, each esteeming other better than 
himself. 

With such theoretical misconception, and such 
practical misapplication of the Gospel, so open, pal- 
pable, and undeniable to the close observer, it is cer- 
tainly not surprising, but natural and reasonable, 
that the superficial and undiscriminating observer, 
who hastily judges of principles themselves by the 
practices of those who profess them, should raise this 
question, and earnestly demand its consideration : 
" What advantages would accrue to mankind gen- 
erally, and the working classes in particular, by the 
removal of Christianity, and the substitution of secu- 
larism in its place ? " This, as some of you are no 
doubt aware, is the question now openly raised by 
thinking and earnest men in England, and which, 
challenging the church and clergy, has been publicly 



THE MIND WHICH WAS IN JESUS. 



375 



discussed before crowded and deeply interested con- 
gregations. 

Before a great, practical, fundamental, and com- 
prehensive question like this, the petty points of sec- 
tarian dispute, over which churches have been tor- 
turing each other in fruitless controversy, dwindle 
and shrink, and shrivel into dust and smoke, and 
vanish away like vapor. Yet this, and such as this, 
are all-important inquiries, which churches must 
come bravely up to meet and answer, in this age of 
fiery trial, and nothing but truth can stand the flam- 
ing ordeal. It is not only beyond the Atlantic, but 
here among ourselves, in every enlightened com- 
munity, that such questions must be met and dis- 
cussed and answered. There are already indications 
that our church disputants, blinded as they have 
been by protracted word-wars, are beginning to ap- 
preciate the real issue. 

One of the most ably conducted of the religious 
publications claiming to be peculiarly Puritanic, 
Evangelical, and Orthodox, is " The Independent " 
of New York. Only a few weeks since (August, 
1853), it contained a significant article on " Modern 
Scepticism." The writer goes so far as to express 
his belief, judging from his own observation, that as 
many as four fifths of all the thinking young men of 
our country are utterly sceptical of " the great his- 
torical facts of Christianity," — that, with them, the 
prevailing church doctrines are not only objects of 
doubt, but of dislike and disgust. And he does not 
allude to ultraists and fanatics, but to men of calm, 
well-balanced minds, with whom the foundations of 
all religious belief are rotten and trembling, and 
crumbling into nothing. 



376 THE MIND WHICH WAS IN JESUS. 



For this sad condition of increasing scepticism, he 
assigns some reasons, as they appear to him. The 
chief cause he describes briefly, in these plain, strong 
words : " The curse to the American mind, as we be- 
lieve, has been the aspect presented, in a portion of 
our theology, of Deity. The God of some of our the- 
ologians is not a Being whom the human heart can 
either respect or love. Men have ascribed acts and 
feelings to him, which they would utterly revolt at 
in themselves or their fellows. We are not over- 
stating. We know those with whom the memory 
of family prayer, early religious teaching, and Sab- 
bath sermons, is so entwined with the picture of 
a hateful and repellent Deity, that they loathe and 
reject in consequence the whole religion of their 
childhood." He proceeds then to speak of " the for- 
malism and cant " prevailing in the churches, as 
other causes of this alarming scepticism. 

It is possible that, as to the numbers of which he 
speaks, this writers statements may be somewhat 
overdrawn. But whether or not, here is the unques- 
tionable fact of nominal Christianity. After all the 
enormities which through centuries have been per- 
petrated in its name, — after all the streams of tears 
and rivers of blood which its contending and mis- 
guided advocates have caused to flow, — after all 
the monstrous cruelties, and gross hypocrisies, and 
selfish practices, and beastly passions, and glaring 
inconsistencies, of those who have professed to rec- 
ognize and to be governed by it, — here still remains, 
under various forms and names, the aspect of a re- 
ligion purporting to find its origin in the teachings 
of Jesus of Nazareth. 



THE MIND WHICH WAS IN JESUS. 



377 



After being associated for successive generations 
with a prodigious burden of inconsistencies, immo- 
ralities, and vices, sufficient, apparently, to crush into 
nonentity any system or doctrine which is mortal 
and destructible, here still rise and tower around us, 
and over kingdoms and continents, myriads of tem- 
ples, sanctuaries, and altars to the one Great God 
Invisible, the worshippers in all revering the words 
and honoring the memory of Jesus the Christ, and 
bearing the common designation Christian. 

How do we account for this ? Where is its ex- 
planation ? Where is the secret of this nominal ex- 
istence, — this external vitality ? Why is it, that, 
despite all the superstitions, persecutions, and en- 
mities of professed disciples and followers, tens of 
thousands of the most earnest, the best and most 
hopeful of our race, still fondly cherish and revere 
the name and memory of that one meek and lowly 
person, Jesus? While ponderous volumes have 
amplified the horrors of narrow-minded bigotry bear- 
ing the name of Christian, why is it that the plain 
words, the memory and name of Jesus, are still found 
fast upon the world's heart, and associated with the 
loftiest and holiest aspirations of human minds and 
souls ? 

Is the fact tb be explained by the recorded mira- 
cles which he performed ? No, this will not explain 
it ; for every miracle which he performed finds its 
counterpart in the history of miracles wrought by 
the Hebrew prophets who lived ages before his ad- 
vent. The mightiest miracle performed by him was 
raising of the dead, and that, according to the Hebrew 
Scripture, not only had living prophets done, but even 
32* 



378 THE MIND WHICH WAS IN JESUS. 

the dead body of Elisha is said by its very touch to 
have transformed the fleshless bones lying in a sepul- 
chre into a vigorous, living man ; and yet not only the 
prophet himself, but these wondrous deeds of his, are 
only remembered by their place in the Bible history. 

Will sympathy with the circumstances of his death 
explain it ? No, this will not explain it ; for not only 
the Hebrew records, but the annals and traditions of 
races and nations, back to the time of the mur- 
dered Abel, were burdened with the experience of 
sufferers, — sufferers who for loyalty to truth and 
goodness were subjected, frequently for months and 
even years, to all the refinements of physical torture 
which ingenious cruelty and human malice could 
devise. And yet these great sufferers, who sacri- 
ficed health, peace, and even life, for human good, 
are only remembered on occasions when we curiously 
turn to peruse the sad histories of human infirmity, 
illumined by the occasional light of heroic virtue. 

But if neither his miraculous works nor the event 
of his death can explain the fact, that nations 
and races, and the enlightened world, not only of 
Christians, but of all religions, refer at least with 
admiration to the name of Jesus, will the recorded 
event of his resurrection solve the problem ? No, 
even this will not explain it; for all Christendom, 
generation after generation, has read with reverence 
the Bible record of Enoch, who " walked with God," 
and, without even tasting death, was borne away 
into the splendors of the invisible and everlasting life ; 
and of Elijah, who was not, like Jesus, subjected to 
the shroud and the sepulchre, — not even for an hour, 
— but, in the midst of life and vigor, was translated 



THE MIND WHICH WAS IN JESUS. 379 

before the wondering gaze of his fellow-man, as in a 
chariot of flame, and, amid the resplendent glories of 
a celestial escort, taken up to realms of everlasting 
light in reservation for the good and true. And yet 
the names of Enoch and Elijah are so far from being 
cherished and honored through the world, that even 
by Jews and Christians they are unremembered, save 
when reference is made to the earliest incidents 
handed down to us through Hebrew Scripture. 

Thus, neither the history of his miracles, nor the 
circumstances of his death, nor the record of his res- 
urrection, will account for the place which Jesus holds 
in the affections of the world. But there is a simple 
and satisfactory explanation, and that explanation 
is found in the personal character of Jesus, — not his 
nature nor his rank, but that belonging to his per- 
son, which we call character, — in the precepts, the 
principles, the words, the deportment, the daily life, 
all that may be summed up in this expressive phrase, 
" the mind of Jesus." The simple narrative of the 
four canonical historians, in the brief and familiar 
manner in which they describe his thoughts, his 
emotions, his utterances, the spirit which pervaded 
and ruled his whole unobtrusive and unostentatious 
life, present a picture so harmonious in its pro- 
portions, so graceful and perfect in its symmetry, 
so beautiful, so good, so immaculate in its moral 
purity, that every mind, whose sanity is unimpaired, 
and every heart, whose affections are not deadened 
by rude contact with vice, pause instinctively be- 
fore it, recognizing and admiring the grandest and 
divinest model of moral excellence, towards which 
unperverted humanity always has aspired. It is not 



380 THE MIND WHICH WAS IN JESUS. 



mere knowledge or belief in those of his works called 
wonderful, nor those of his words called wonderful, 
nor any circumstance connected with him called 
wonderful, supernatural, or miraculous, which wins 
and keeps ever circling round the name of Jesus the 
admiration and the love of millions through succes- 
sive generations, — millions embracing almost every 
conceivable variety of religious form, and faith, and 
sentiment. It is but the one perpetual wonder of 
the just, true, noble, lofty, yet devout, serene, tender, 
gentle spirit, which informed his common and con- 
tinual and unprecedented life. It was an unprece- 
dented life, — while, as we see from Hebrew Scrip- 
ture, neither as to miracles, nor sufferings, nor amaz- 
ing events equivalent to, or even more astounding 
than, a resurrection, was his career unprecedented. 
But there was no precedent to the character, the life, 
or, as St. Paul expresses it, the mind of Jesus. From 
Moses and the preceding patriarchs there had been 
great miracle-workers, and great prophets, and great 
leaders. From Confucius and Zoroaster, to Plato 
and Cicero, there had been great sages, great teach- 
ers, and great heroes ; but while the world honored 
them, and rung with their renown, and still retains 
their immortal memory, there was behind all this, in 
the universal consciousness of humanity, a want 
which had not been supplied, — a void which had 
not been filled. 

Not only through all the vicissitudes and formal- 
isms of the Hebrews, but through all the supersti- 
tions of Egypt, through all the luxurious corruptions 
of Syria and Persia, through all Roman ambition, 
through all Grecian science and speculation, through 



THE MIND WHICH WAS IN JESUS. 



381 



all the art and literature of every nation, through the 
rise, the decline, or fall of every people, through 
every stream of religious error, social vice, or moral 
corruption, which has undermined institutions, over- 
swept kingdoms, or cursed or ruined human races, — 
through them all might have been traced the exist- 
ence of an ideal, — an ideal of a true life on earth, a 
true, possible, practicable, real life, which had not 
been realized, — a life which should not only be a 
history or a picture, but a true life of a true soul 
which should be an example, a model, a moral force, 
and so a preservation and a redemption, — a redeem- 
ing power, redeeming from selfishness and sin where 
redemption was required, and a preserving power 
where preservation was most needed. Tliat true life 
has been lived, and Jesus lived it. In the fulness of 
time the earth has rolled round, and the Sun of 
Righteousness has risen, the true light of perfect day 
has dawned upon awakened humanity, now rising 
from the unsubstantial dreams of a long spiritual 
slumber. 

In the living — the words, the spirit, the life 
— of Jesus, a new element has been introduced 
among the moral forces of the world. It is rec- 
ognized as soon as seen. Indifferent, effeminate, 
or vicious as a people may be, — superstitious, pas- 
sionate, selfish, or cruel as a people may be, — no 
sooner are their eyes turned to look upon the life of 
Jesus, than they behold the reality, the embodiment, 
of that idea, which, like a ray of light, has in every 
age, by every generation, been seen glimmering 
through the darkest clouds of human thought, or the 
fiercest storms of human passion. 



382 THE MIND WHICH WAS IN JESUS. 

The life of Jesus stands not merely as a picture or 
a statue, challenging criticism or admiration. Its 
power is not the power of harmonious colors and 
exquisite proportions, but it is a living power, a 
power of soul acting upon soul ; and when once 
fairly seen, it becomes a second conscience, cease- 
lessly rebuking and reproving wherever it does not 
reform or preserve or purify. He who would de- 
prave his nature, deaden conscience, and petrify his 
heart, must refuse even to look upon the life of 
Jesus ; for if he looks long enough, the crust of his 
depravity will crumble, and his dying conscience 
will revive, and his frozen heart will dissolve, and a 
gushing fountain of blessed sympathies will sweep 
away the frail ruins from his presence. 

Many, indeed, confine their knowledge or study 
of Jesus to a few only of the incidents or circum- 
stances of his career. They see, or perhaps are 
taught to see, only the crown of thorns, the tumult, 
the tears, and blood on Calvary, and the cold sepul- 
chre of Jesus; and for all practical concerns their 
selfishness is untouched, their conscience is un- 
quickened, and their hearts unsoftened, for the life of 
Jesus is a blank to them. They study nothing but 
his death as part of a scheme or plan. The living, 
acting, blessing, loving Jesus has never been made 
attractive to their minds, nor ever been the object of 
their contemplations. 

Now, seeing that all other considerations fail to 
explain it, do we not in the personal life and char- 
acter of Jesus find a sufficient explanation of that 
deep, and deepening, and ever-widening admiration, 
which, through the contradictions and corruptions, 



THE MIND WHICH WAS IN JESUS. 383 

the vicissitudes and vices, of successive ages, has 
been associated with his name and memory? His 
character realized the world's ideal, an ideal always 
raised by that indefinite phrase used to describe our 
nature in perfection, "the image of God." That 
image he presented, in all respects in which the 
visible can be the image of the invisible, or the 
finite be the image of the infinite. The involun- 
tary homage of the world to Jesus is the sponta- 
neous tribute which the divine element in human 
nature always pays to the really pure, the faithful, 
and the good, testifying that in all real conflicts 
goodness only can be ultimately triumphant, that 
truth only can be eternal, that moral deformities 
must fade away and die before the immortal beauty 
of holiness. 

" Let this mind be in you, which was also in 
Christ Jesus." 



DISCOURSE XXVI. 



USES OF THE COMMUNION. 

THEY MADE READY THE PASSOVER. AND WHEN THE HOUR 
WAS COME, HE SAT DOWN, AND THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
WITH HIM. AND HE TOOK BR*EAD, AND GAVE THANKS, AND 
BRAKE IT, AND GAVE UNTO THEM, SAYING, THIS IS MY 
BODY, WHICH IS GIVEN FOR YOU : THIS DO IN REMEM- 
BRANCE OF ME. LIKEWISE ALSO THE CUP AFTER SUPPER, 
SAYING, THIS CUP IS THE NEW TESTAMENT IN MY BLOOD, 
which is shed for you. — Luke xxii. 13, 14, 19, 20. 

Though Jesus was a religious reformer, and a pro- 
pounder of principles designed ultimately to subvert 
the ceremonial religion of his nation, yet he was al- 
ways a respectful observer of the customs and time- 
honored emblematic rites and appointments of that 
religion. Thus we find, that among the very last 
acts, previous to his violent death, is that described 
in these simple words : " They made ready the pass- 
over. And when the hour was come, he sat down, and 
the twelve Apostles with him." There is nothing in 
his language on this occasion, which indicates his 
design either to abolish, or essentially to change, the 
manner of observing this Hebrew celebration of grate- 
ful memory. He says nothing as to the day of the 



USES OF THE COMMUNION. 



385 



week, or the place, or the number of times this rite 
or supper should be observed. All these have been 
determined by the subsequent consent and custom 
of the early Christians. 

He designed, evidently, to associate this supper in 
their minds with other events than those in which 
ii originated. These new associations, constituting 
all the change which he proposed, he summed up 
in these simple, but comprehensive and expressive 
words, " This do in remembrance of me" Not once 
every year, not once every month, not once every 
week, not only on the seventh day, nor on the first 
day of the week, — time or place he did not specify, 
— but, "as oft as ye do it," — where, or whensoever 
ye do it, — " do it in remembrance of me." 

It forms no part of my present purpose to enu- 
merate the various and strange opinions which may 
have existed, or may now exist, as to the significa- 
tion of this observance, commonly designated the 
Lord's Supper. To give a history of its past uses 
and abuses, through eighteen centuries, would ex- 
haust your patience, without compensating by any 
valuable information. It has, from an early period 
in the Church, been styled a Sacrament. Looking 
over past Church history, it is much to be regretted 
that this term bas become in so many pious minds 
devoutly associated with this observance. Sacra- 
ment is a wholly unscriptural term, and originally 
refers to the oath of allegiance taken by Roman 
heathen soldiers to their emperor or sovereign. 
While it may, though a heathen term, be metaphor- 
ically appropriated by Christians, and employed to 
signify a pledge of loyalty or fidelity to Christian 
33 



386 



USES OF THE COMMUNION. 



truth, yet such have been its sad misuses, and the 
misapprehensions to which it has conducted, that I 
cannot but regard it as a most serious misfortune to 
Christendom and Christian truth, that the Latin 
converts to Christianity ever introduced the word 
into Christian theology. 

Whilst in a figurative sense this observance may 
be, and while to some perhaps it is, and should be, 
a sacrament, a repeated or perpetual pledge of loy- 
alty or allegiance to Christianity, or the Sovereign of 
Christianity, yet its primary, most proper and com- 
prehensive meaning, as it appears to me, is expressed 
by the simple word communion, or, as the New Tes- 
tament still more simply expresses it, a " breaking 
of bread." By the breaking of bread, and tasting 
from the cup, together, is signified a communion, — a 
communion of memory and of hope, — a communion 
of faith and sympathy; — memory of the past, hope 
of the future, faith in truth, and sympathy in benev- 
olence. It is thus that we respond to the tender 
and touching request of Jesus, " This do in remem- 
brance of me " ; — remembrance of his character and 
his teachings, remembrance of his principles and pre- 
cepts, remembrance of his life and of his death, con- 
summating in its results his beneficent and heavenly 
ministry to man. 

But how completely, throughout a large portion 
of the Church, for ages, has the naturalness and 
beautiful tenderness of this sentiment of remem- 
brance been submerged in a sea of speculative mys- 
ticism ! "What should have been the recognition of 
ever-enduring and world-embracing truths, revealed 
to the mind and heart of man, has been changed into 



USES OF THE COMMUNION. 



387 



the inexplicable mark of an awful and profound 
mystery. That which should have been a perpet- 
ual bond of union to the whole great brotherhood 
of Christendom, has been changed into a badge 
of sectarian, doctrinal, and personal distinctions. 
That which should always have been the emblem- 
atic, but simple, expression of fraternal sympathy, 
has be§n changed into an expression of divine fa- 
voritism, a rite of repulsion, and a cause of disaffec- 
tion and estrangement. When we view the small 
proportion, even of the regular worshippers of Chris- 
tian congregations, who participate in this observ- 
ance, the inquiry is irresistible : Why should this be 
more repulsive or more mysterious, or why should 
it be less inviting and less useful, than other celebra- 
tions or occasional observances, which are commem- 
orative, sympathetic, and suggestive ? 

Moved by the Christian spirit of humanity and 
progress, you dedicate a seminary for the instruction 
and education of human minds. And why ? In what 
consists the general interest of the occasion ? It is 
a fresh starting-point for effort and improvement, — 
a new centre of ceaselessly widening influences for 
human good. And who are present to celebrate the 
occasion ? Only the few who designed and contrib- 
uted to the erection of the structure ? No ! But 
all who are interested in the development of mind, 
the intellectual elevation of society, and the moral 
welfare of the world. You found an asylum for the 
bereaved, the destitute, and the unfortunate, and 
publicly dedicate it to its benevolent uses. And 
why this celebration ? Because you wish to express 
gratitude, and hope, and sympathy. Each annual 



388 



USES OF THE COMMUNION. 



return of that occasion brings a fresh celebration, and 
who are present, who are invited to rejoice in it? 
Only those who prepared the plan, or who contrib- 
uted to establish the institution ? No ! but all who 
feel the common infirmities of our mortal nature : 
all who are exposed to the common vicissitudes of 
life; all who have sympathizing hearts, and who 
desire to mitigate the sorrows of suffering humanity. 
You build a monument to perpetuate the virtues of 
a nation's benefactor, and publicly celebrate the day 
of its completion, because you would not — no! you 
will not — permit the memory of excellence to fade 
away, nor of goodness to die. An annual offering 
of grateful recollections marks the anniversary of the 
birth of one known as the saviour of his nation, the 
father of his country. Who celebrate the occasion? 
The inhabitants of a city, or the citizens of a state ? 
A whole vast people commemorate the day, a thrill 
of sympathy vibrates through the nation. Not a 
few rejoice, but all, — all who admire patriotic de- 
votion, who love incorruptible integrity, who honor 
self-sacrificing magnanimity. The old delight in 
recollections of the past, and the young are pointed 
to the obelisk, or tower, or pyramid, which speaks of 
the great man's excellence, and they read new les- 
sons, inspire fresh courage, and breathe lofty resolu- 
tions. 

Now, fellow-worshippers, and lovers of all that is 
good and true, momentous and enduring, does this 
simple Christian celebration recall a less important 
character, and does it commemorate less important 
events in the world's history, than those to which we 
have referred ? Is the occasion less inspiring in its 



USES OF THE COMMUNION. 



389 



suggestions, or less comprehensive in its spirit ? Is 
its value less obvious, or is it of interest to a smaller 
number ? O, with what sorrow must we confess it 
to be the lasting reproach of sects, denominations, 
and churches, bearing in common the Christian 
name, that they have transformed this beautiful 
pledge and expression of pure memories, pure enjoy- 
ments, and pure hopes into the embodiment of repul- 
sive and unintelligible dogmas, — into the stamped 
passport of bitterest sectarianism, — into the mys- 
tical dark signature of heart-hardening bigotry, and 
the shadowy cloak of soul-deadening hypocrisy. 

The chief mistake has* evidently been, and still is, 
in regarding it as the consummation, instead of the 
auxiliary, of belief or faith or truth. In making it 
the final proof, instead of the common aid to virtue ; 
in other words, making it the end instead of the 
means to an end. 

Must you be a Christian before you express the 
desire to be a Christian? Must you exhibit the 
result, before you employ the means to produce the 
result ? The Scripture, the Sunday, the church, and 
all its rites and observances, are only means, not 
ends. Aids, encouragements, they are and should 
be, but ends they are not. Their strictest observ- 
ance is designed to contribute to good ends ; but 
they are not tests or proofs, their employment can 
prove nothing definite as to the character of persons. 
The tree is known, so far as known at all, only by 
its fruits, — not by its branches, nor its bark, nor 
its odor, nor the color of its foliage, but only by its 
fruits. Among the twelve who sat down at that 
first supper of remembrance, one was selfish and 
33* 



390 



USES OF THE COMMUNION. 



avaricious, a hypocrite and a traitor ; and Jesus had 
observed and well knew his character, — yet he was 
not excluded. Jesus left him to apply good means 
to his own reformation, or to time and conscience, 
— time and conscience, the sure retributive agents 
of that Infinite Justice which administers the moral 
government of the world. 

Jesus came not to call the righteous, but sinners, 
to repentance ; not the pure, but the vicious, to 
reform. It is not the whole, said he, but the sick, 
who need a physician. Wheresoever this observ- 
ance is established, either as a standard of doctrine 
or a standard of piety, the legitimate tendency is 
to self-deception, and even to insincerity and hypoc- 
risy. It ceases then to be a feast of memory and 
of sympathy ; it ceases to be a moral power, a spirit- 
ual influence. Call it Sacrament or what you may, 
it is no longer a communion, a Christian commun- 
ion, — it cannot be; for between the false and true, 
between light and darkness, there can be no com- 
munion. There may, among communing worship- 
pers, be error, weakness, sorrow, hope, and humble, 
trembling aspiration ; between these there can be 
sympathy, and such is the true communion of long- 
ing, laboring, earnest, fallible, human hearts, humbly 
and constantly striving towards the perfection of a 
Christian life. It is strange that even experience, as 
a teacher, is so often powerless. For all observation 
testifies to the utter futility of this observance as a 
standard of doctrine, and its utter worthlessness as a 
standard of piety. For where it has been offered as 
such, unprincipled men have used it, and do use it, 
to profess every doctrine, whilst in churches which 



USES OF THE COMMUNION. 



39] 



make it a standard of piety, no candid observer can 
fail to perceive that not a few attempt to gloss their 
moral rottenness by accepting it as a test, whilst the 
truly conscientious wisely and justly shrink from 
raising a standard so ambiguous or unmeaning. 

You still, perhaps, more directly inquire, Whom 
do you regard as proper participants in this cele- 
bration of sacred remembrance? The answer has 
been implied and conveyed in the remarks already 
offered. But more explicitly I reply: Every one 
believing himself to be, or claiming himself to be, a 
Christian, or every one earnestly desiring to live a 
Christian life, and desiring to employ this as a 
means to such an end. Not only those who claim 
or desire to be Christian, in the sense in which I or 
you, or any other private or public expounder, may 
interpret and understand Christianity, but every one 
who claims or desires to be Christian, according to 
his own interpretation and understanding of Chris- 
tianity, however widely he may differ from you or 
me, or from the wisest and best among us. To 
God and his own soul, and not to us, is he respon- 
sible. As for the sincerity of his purposes, the 
purity of his intentions, he stands, whether com- 
muning or not communing, as we all stand, sur- 
rounded by the same "cloud of witnesses," our 
fellow-men, who read character according to their 
own judgment; and the non-communicant has no 
advantage over the communing worshipper as to 
the rule by which society esteems and judges him. 

Yet there are some who, perhaps, would still reply, 
We do seek the proper means to virtuous ends, we 
do employ outward aids to promote our inward 



392 



USES OF THE COMMUNION. 



growth, we do use the social helps to individual 
progress ; we attend the church twice every Sunday, 
passing full two hours, and perhaps as much as three 
hours, there every week ; we attend respectfully to 
the ministrations of the pulpit, and we contribute 
annually to the support of public worship. 

Well, all this done, how much of real communion 
of mind, how much of actual, open, visible, frater- 
nal, Christian sympathy does observation show to 
exist commonly among the regular worshippers in 
churches? Not only for days, weeks, or months, 
but for successive years, do we not — very few con- 
gregations of any name can be excepted — do we 
not see the men and women pass in together, and sit 
down and raise their voices in praise together, and 
listen to the same words together, and have their 
minds and affections moved and swayed by the same 
thoughts and feelings, and receive the same solemn 
benediction, and, with their very garments in contact 
- with each other, pass out again with lips as motion- 
less, and countenances as cold, as though all were 
moving marble statues ? — hundreds of such wor- 
shippers neither knowing nor desiring even to know 
each other's names, but families and individuals 
bearing themselves with deportment as dignified 
and distant as though they were utter strangers, for 
the first time assembled from distant continents or 
opposing poles. How could the real stranger, stand- 
ing at the doors of Christian churches, and witness- 
ing the freezing, fashionable coldness, — how could 
he exclaim, " Behold those Christians, how they love 
one another ! " 

It is neither needful, desirable, nor possible that 



USES OF THE COMMUNION. 



393 



all who assemble together for public worship shall 
every day associate on terms of friendly, personal 
intimacy. The daily necessary pursuits and vicis- 
situdes of life render this alike inexpedient and 
impossible ; and the poor no more than the rich, the 
illiterate no more than the learned, the obscure no 
more than the eminent, desire any such nominal 
and constrained terms of social intercourse. But let 
there be at least one place always hallowed to 
human sympathy, one place where the hollowness 
and coldness of social conventionalisms shall be per- 
vaded and softened by the warm, celestial atmos- 
phere of Christian brotherhood. 

Let the church, which is dedicated to a God who 
is love, to a God who is no respecter of persons, but 
who, in divine compassion, sends his sunshine and 
rain on the just and the unjust, the evil and the 
good, — let the church be ever sacred to real sym- 
pathy, whether in faith, in benevolence, or in com- 
passion ; and let this sympathy be expressed, let it 
not be latent, slumbering in our hearts, but let it be 
expressed in words, in looks, in actions, and in our 
whole deportment. O for one place where, for at 
least one day in seven, the emptiness of etiquette, 
and the coldness of custom, and the formalities 
of fashion, shall be together buried in one common 
sentiment of filial reverence, and we may all feel 
ourselves to be children of that Holy One whom we 
have learned to call " Our Father," — our Everlast- 
ing Father. It is not only a reproach, it is a shame, 
a burning shame, that Christians, ay, Christian 
worshippers under the same sacred roof, even when 
their hearts are glowing, when they feel that their 



394 



USES OF THE COMMUNION. 



very nerves are restless to express their brotherly 
and sisterly affection, should almost forcibly withhold 
their hands, and turn away their faces, and pass out 
and separate without so much as one word or look 
of true communion. I know not, but God knoweth, 
and thou knowest, if any such are here. If there 
are any such present, if any one of you now hears 
the voice of conscience whispering, " Thou art the 
man," " Thou art the woman," obey the voice, re- 
solve, and with the noblest courage, this very hour, 
before you repass yon entrance, wipe out the blot, 
and let it be a reproach no more for ever. 

As to the administration of a true Christian com- 
munion in the Church, my idea would be this, — 
though, since no man liveth to himself, and each one 
must in some degree recognize the forms of institu- 
tions round him, I never expect to see it realized, — 
but my idea of a true Christian communion would be 
something like this. I would divest it of every mys- 
tical and unintelligible.purpose, I would remove from 
it every repulsive thought, and separate it from every 
gloomy association. Then, be it annually, or month- 
ly, or weekly, as it might, in every assembly of Chris- 
tian worshippers, I would prepare an ample literal 
table, with seats for all. I would garnish that table 
with the freshest, most beautiful, and fragrant flowers, 
— the poetry of God's creation, — that they might 
enrich the air with their sweetest incense. I would 
fill the edifice with sounds of rich and swelling 
music, the very notes of heaven, bringing mortal 
feelings into harmony with immortal hopes. And 
when that music paused, I would say to every heart 
capable of pure affections, to every mind aspiring 



USES OF THE COMMUNION, 



395 



toward high attainment, and to every spirit longing 
after holiness of life, — I would say, Come with quiet 
joy, come with serene dignity, come with radiant 
countenance and hopeful heart, come the youthful 
beside the aged, the sons and daughters beside the fa- 
thers and the mothers. And while the simple plate 
of bread and cup of wine should pass from hand to 
hand, like the electric links of a chain of love binding 
them in one, I would say, Do this in remembrance 
of Him; and leave all to silent meditation, — to 
meditation on the most perfect character which has 
ever adorned the world, the most lofty truths ever 
offered to the study of man, the purest precepts ever 
given for the government of human action, the sub- 
limest life and the sublimest death in the history of 
earth ; and I would say, Study these truths, contem- 
plate this character, till you find yourselves assimi- 
lating to that character in holy aspirations, and then 
rise and go forth, clothed and armed in pure and 
firm resolve to resist the temptations, endure the 
trials, enjoy the blessings, and mitigate the sorrows, 
of human existence. 

Now, friends, if there be one, or ten, or twenty 
here, who, in the spirit of such a true communion, 
may feel a pure and serene, yet strong, impulse to 
express that spirit of communion, remain with us for 
the moments when we break this bread and taste 
this cup of sacred memories and sacred hopes. We 
ask from you no prescribed and verbal declaration of 
opinions, and your act is itself a sufficient declara- 
tion of your purpose and desire, — the only declara- 
tion which either the Church or the world has any 
right to claim from any moral being. 



396 



USES OF THE COMMUNION. 



We would obliterate every narrow line that 
human intolerance may draw, we would remove 
every unauthorized barrier which human prejudice 
may erect, and, asking you to dismiss every false 
fear which selfishness may suggest, invite all, who 
feel an earnest inclination, to remain, and for a 
moment express with us a communion of joys and 
hopes, flowing, as in one unbroken stream of grati- 
tude, to the God and Father of us all, and towards 
Jesus, the teacher, the friend, the example and bene- 
factor of us all. Though you never before, by any 
outward act, expressed this sentiment, yet that you 
have experienced it, and longed for its expression, 
there can scarcely be a doubt. If such be your 
experience and inclination, at this moment, now, — 
resist no longer. Because others round you pass 
forth with the words of benediction, do not feel con- 
strained to follow, but resume your place ; for once, 
if needful, be courageous with the truest courage. Be 
not governed by the low thought, " What will some 
one say ? " but be decided by the lofty and heroic 
thought, " What is right for me to do, I will do " ; 
and act, act before your good resolution trembles 
and faints, and before your now glowing heart is 
cooled again by the chilling breath of shadowy fears 
and false social customs. For, in view of the per- 
petual uncertainty of all things human, now — not 
next month, nor to-morrow, which may never come 
to you on earth — but now is the accepted time, now 
is the only time for duty. Those silent marble 
teachers without these walls recall many who, in 
the memory of those present, sat where you now sit, 
passed to each other these same plates, and tasted 



USES OF THE COMMUNION. 



397 



from these same cups, expressed their spirit of com- 
munion, bore their testimony to their love of truth, 
and then passed on, as some and all of us shall 
soon pass on, to bear a better testimony and cele- 
brate a loftier communion. 

Come, then, to communion with your fellow- 
worshippers of the same God, with your fellow- 
laborers in the same life, your fellow-inquirers after 
highest truth, and your fellow-heirs to an eternity 
of being. Then come to communion with not only 
Jesus, and the exalted, great, and wise and good of 
all past time, but also with the spirits of the hum- 
bler near and loved ones, on whose faces we have so 
often and affectionately looked, but who have gone 
from sight, and left these corruptibles to put on in- 
corruption, and these mortals to put on immortality. 
Then come to communion with the boundless Pres- 
ence, the Holy One who has called us into being, 
and crowned us, as lords of the creation, with glory 
and with dignity, and so let us bring our vexed and 
troubled finite souls into peaceful harmony with the 
Infinite Soul, which pervades the universe, which 
lives and reigns undisturbed for ever in the eternal 
beauty of holiness. 



34 



DISCOURSE XXVII. 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. — UNITY AND DIVER- 
SITY. — THE SPIRIT OF DENOMINATION. 

As it is always pleasing, and sometimes profitable, 
to leave the bustling throng and narrow streets and 
petty cares, and inhale a purer air, and enjoy the 
quiet beauty of nature in the forest or on the moun- 
tain-side, in the bright sunlight or the mild radiance 
of a summer morn, so is it refreshing, at times, to 
escape from the arena of sectarian conflict and theo- 
logical warfare, into a superior region of thought, 
where fierceness subsides into gentleness, where our 
human nature, perverted by contending interests, re- 
covers its right mind, and man finds himself at some 
point in harmony with man, and every spirit finds 
itself, in recognizing some great principle, some grand 
and vital truth, in sympathy with every other spirit. 
The diversities of the material world we do not de- 
plore. You never meet with one who laments that 
the world is not all a level, unbroken plane, without 
mountains, hills, and valleys. You hear no one sor- 
rowing that flowers are not all of the same hue, and 
trees all of the same species and the same dimen- 
sions ; no one regrets that the skies are variegated 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 



399 



by countless, everchanging passing clouds, instead of 
one spacious and cloudless and changeless canopy of 
azure. 

Neither do we have deep sorrowings over the di- 
versities of intellectual tendencies and tastes, or 
social employments and social habits. No one de- 
plores the fact, that every man does not prefer the 
same trade, art, or profession. No one mourns over 
the varied opinions and discussions of men of sci- 
ence. No one is sorry that every book does not ex- 
press the same sentiment, or that all books are not 
printed with the same type, or finished with the 
same binding. It would be rare to find one who de- 
plores the existence of more than one party in poli- 
tics, and no one thinks it a calamity that all do not 
invariably support the same measures and the same 
men. No one apprehends great evil because every 
State, city, and town is not regulated by one and 
the same law. No, it is in the social and intellect- 
ual as in the natural world. From diversity there 
is unity, — from variety there is beauty, — and sep- 
arate lines of action contribute to produce one har- 
monious result. 

But you observe the difference when theology and 
religion are concerned. You may hear the ministers 
and defenders of each particular community or de- 
nomination in sad strains deploring the ignorance or 
wickedness of men who fail to coincide with them. 
They do not think it deplorable that all men do not 
agree with them on points of scientific interest, that 
all their neighbors do not coincide with them in lit- 
erary tastes or in political opinions ; but a dreadful 
evil is it, that friends, neighbors, and the world do 



400 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 



not join with them in attaching the same importance 
to certain articles of faith, certain outward rites, and 
certain forms of worship. Now, this obviously in- 
dicates a partial warping of the judgment, a partial 
biassing of the mind in one direction. For the same 
observation of diverse physical and intellectual ca- 
pacity and culture, by which we are led not to ex- 
pect human countenances to wear the same expres- 
sion, nor minds uniformly to agree in politics, liter- 
ature, or science, would naturally, reasonably, and by 
a logical necessity, lead us not to expect all minds, 
nor many minds, to perceive religious truth in the 
same relations, to coincide in theological doctrines or 
religious forms. Nothing but protracted, persevering, 
diligent, and impressive instruction, could so blunt 
the perceptions of a rational mind, as to expose it to 
such inconsistency. It is plain enough, that no well- 
balanced mind, symmetrically developed, would ever 
make the future and eternal welfare of human souls, 
the favor or displeasure of God, depend upon be- 
lieving or agreeing to the same theological doctrines, 
any more than upon believing or agreeing to the 
same scientific or political doctrines. For in the one 
case no more than in the other does the belief de- 
pend upon mere effort of the will. No mind can be- 
lieve, nor can any mind disbelieve, what and when 
it may choose or please. But however minds may be 
contracted or partially distorted in one direction, by at- 
tachment to religious institutions which exercise a 
narrowing influence from infancy through every stage 
of growth, still, whenever this bending power of doc- 
trine or church is for a time weakened or forgot- 
ten, leaving the mind to evince its native tendency, 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 401 

and the heart's affections free to flow in their native 
channel, we find the most ardent champions of es- 
tablished systems of exclusive theology conceding 
and advocating the right to unlimited liberty of 
thought, and indulging aspirations toward a natu- 
ral unity of spiritual freedom, a Christian unity of 
love, independent of all, or rather compatible with 
all reasonable diversity of doctrine, and all necessary 
diversity of mental perceptions. My design at this 
time is to demonstrate this, by a few out of many 
illustrations which might be given. I solicit your 
attention to the words in a few brief passages from 
two or three distinguished deceased, and as many 
living theologians, Roman Catholic and Protestant. 
The words of these men are entitled to earnest 
attention ; for in these instances they are speak- 
ing in their calmer moments, free from the excite- 
ment of controversy, showing that the sentiments of 
the most devoted champions of a cause, when they 
speak as men, are manly and humane, and showing 
the ground that sectarians would stand on were they 
unconfined by the fetters of religious institutions or 
organisms, — the ground which they will occupy 
hereafter, as exclusive church associations relax or 
lose their iron hold upon the hearts and minds of 
men, and leaveHhem free as the Creator formed them. 

And, first, the renowned President Edwards, a bold- 
er champion of Calvinism than Calvin himself, says 
(I cite but a few words, not designing to lay your pa- 
tience under tribute) : " Old men seldom have any 
advantage from new discoveries, because they are 
beside a way of thinking which they have long been 
used to. If ever I live to years, I will be impartial 
34* 



402 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 



to hear reasons of all pretended discoveries, and re- 
ceive them if rational, how long soever I may have 
been used to another way of thinking." Such is the 
sober second-thought of one among the fiercest de- 
fenders of a religious system that the world has ever 
seen. 

Still more direct, if possible, are the following 
words of an eminent Presbyterian, Dr. Maxcy, once 
President of South Carolina College, and after- 
wards of Brown University. He says : " The only 
thing really essential to Christian union is love or 
benevolent affection. It is, therefore, with me a 
fixed principle to censure no man, except for immo- 
rality. An entire coincidence in sentiment even in 
important doctrines is by no means essential to 
Christian society, or the attainment of eternal felicity. 
Shall these great theological champions (Edwards 
and Hopkins) engross heaven, and shout hallelujahs 
from its walls, while a Priestley, a Price, and a Win- 
chester, merely for a difference in opinion, though 
pre-eminent in virtue, must sink into the regions of 
darkness and pain ? Perfect union in opinion will 
not take place till all men possess not only the same 
kind of temper, but the same degree of capacity. 
Candor and forbearance ought always to mark the 
character of Christians. Nothing derogates more 
from their true dignity, than to censure or neglect 
others for difference of sentiment." Here a dis- 
tinguished Presbyterian declares, that " entire coin- 
cidence in sentiment, even in important doctrines, is 
by no means essential," and holds it as " a fixed 
principle to censure no man except for immorality." 

Wesley, the great founder of Methodism, gives ut- 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 



403 



terance to his liberality in this way : " A catholic 
spirit is not an indifference to all opinions, nor an in- 
difference to public worship, nor an indifference to 
all congregations. A man of a catholic spirit is one 
who gives his hand to all whose hearts are right with 
his heart; all, of whatever opinion or worship or con- 
gregation, who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who 
love God and man, who, rejoicing to please and fear- 
ing to offend God, are careful to abstain from evil, 
and are zealous of good works." Such was Wesley. 
May all of that denomination, who venerate his 
name, imbibe his spirit. 

On Christian moderation, the eminent Bishop 
Hall of the Church of England expressed himself 
in these words : " There is nothing in the world more 
wholesome and more necessary to learn, than the 
gracious lesson of Christian moderation, without 
which, in very truth, a man is so far from being a 
Christian, that he is not himself. This is the centre 
wherein all, both divine and moral philosophy meet, 
the rule of life, the governess of manners, the silken 
string that runs through the pearl chain of all virtues, 
the very ecliptic line under which reason and religion 
move without any deviation, and therefore most 
worthy our best thoughts and careful observation." 

In addition to this of Bishop Hall, I give this char- 
acteristic illustration from the old English writer, 
Jeremy Taylor. He says : " Plutarch reports that 
the Tyrians tied their gods with chains, because cer- 
tain persons did dream that Apollo said he would 
leave their city and go to the party of Alexander, who 
then besieged the town, and Apollodorus tells us of 
some who tied the image of Saturn with bands of 



404 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 



wool upon his feet. So some Christians. They 
think God is tied to their sect, and bound to be of 
their side, and the interest of their opinion, and they 
think he can never go to the enemy's party, so long 
as they chain him with certain forms of words or 
disguises of their own." 

The last of the departed great among the exclu- 
sive churches to whose charitable sentiments I will 
now refer, is the illustrious Fenelon, Roman Catho- 
lic Archbishop of Cambray. When he was tutor in 
the palace of Louis XIV., he on one occasion is re- 
ported to have said to the prince : " Liberty of 
thought is an impregnable fortress which no human 
power can force. Violence can never convince, it 
only makes hypocrites. When kings take it upon 
them to direct in matters of religion, instead of pro- 
tecting it, they bring it into bondage. You ought 
therefore to grant to all a legal toleration, not as ap- 
proving everything indifferently, but as suffering with 
patience what God suffers, endeavoring in a proper 
manner to restore such as are misled, but never by 
any measures but those of gentle and benevolent 
persuasion." Such are the magnanimous and Chris- 
tian counsels of a Roman Catholic Archbishop to 
one high in authority, — counsels as pertinent now 
as they were then, and as much needed, not only by 
princes, but by Protestant ministers and people. 

To me it is always an agreeable task to seek out 
and exhibit the virtues and charities and liberal 
thoughts of men of every name and every faith. As 
a fitting sequel to these sentiments of theologians, 
whose words and whose memory alone remain on 
earth, listen for a moment longer to sentiments of 



THE CHULCH OF THE FUTURE. 



405 



two or three living divines of our own country, of 
different denominations. And, first, I will recall to 
your attention the following words of one of the 
best known Presbyterian periodicals in our country, 
" The Evangelist." The writer says : " If any church 
would establish itself as a model church, let it adopt 
these Christian principles. Let it proclaim that it 
is not laboring for a polity, for an ordinance, for a 
name, for a sectarian creed born from some old phi- 
losophy ; but simply to disseminate the Gospel, to 
promote all human improvement. Let it not, there- 
fore, seek to multiply itself, by multiplying its works 
of denominational institutions ; but let it seek to 
distinguish itself from all others by its charity and 
generosity, by its readiness to throw aside unimpor- 
tant differences, and by setting forth clearly and 
prominently the great truths and duties of the church, 
and by daring to base itself upon them." Thus does 
the public organ of the Presbyterian Church, by de- 
scribing the want and the character of a new church, 
describe the consciousness of defect in its own 
church, just in the particulars to which reference is 
made. 

In the Methodist Church, Dr. McClintock, now 
resident in New York, an able writer, and editor of 
the Methodist Quarterly Review, gives expression to 
regrets and hopes in this way. He says : " The free, 
joyous course on which the human mind entered at 
the era of ihe Reformation, was rapidly checked by 
the dogmatic strictness which soon prevailed. Even 
in Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, and Beza, there are 
traces of this spirit, but in their successors it domi- 
neered over everything else. If one is always on the 



406 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 



look-out to find proof-texts for his creed, he will not 
be likely to form honest views of the meaning of 
holy writ. A man may — must have a theory of re- 
ligion, but he should hold it with the conviction that 
he, as other men, may err." Thus does Dr. McClin- 
tock's Methodism of to-day accord with that of Wes- 
ley in a past generation. 

Next, in the Episcopal Church, men feel the need 
of fuller freedom. Dr. Tyng, a living clergyman of 
some note in New York, though a defender of his 
church, expresses his own appreciation of spiritual 
liberty in these terms, in an address before the Ameri- 
can Bible Society. " But there is still another form 
of hostility to the Bible, sacred in its origin, but 
baneful in its results. It is that which seeks to block 
it up in catechisms, and forms, and creeds, and plans 
of man's device. I will take the creeds of my own 
church on the grounds which that church decides, 
so far as to me they are in accordance with the Sa- 
cred Scriptures, and no farther. The connection be- 
tween the Bible and the men who immediately suc- 
ceeded the period of inspiration, is between infallible 
and fallible. However I may reverence the men, I 
can acknowledge no authority in them beyond the 
word of God. When I go to that book, God speaks 
to me. I need no succession ; I go at once to the 
fountain-head. It is not man that speaks, it is God 
who speaks, and he speaks to me as if there were but 
one single Bible on the earth, and that Bible an angel 
had come down and bound upon my bosom." Thus 
does the resolve of intellectual liberty utter its living 
voice in the Episcopal Church of our own day. 

The only other voice for freedom of thought which 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 



407 



I shall now bring to your notice, is from the Baptist 
Church, and uttered only a short time since by Dr. 
Fuller of Baltimore. He says : " Everywhere around 
us we see people who condemn the Roman Catholic 
doctrine, that the Church is the sole proprietor of the 
word of God, and who yet adopt the same error. 
What is it but Protestant Romanism, when the peo- 
ple are required to receive humanly framed creeds, 
and articles, and confessions? when, instead of being 
exhorted to search the Scriptures for themselves, they 
are expected to surrender their consciences to their 
pastors, and to take on credit the dogmas of a 
church ? It is a singular fact, with reference to 
creeds, that they have almost always overlooked 
holiness, and made piety consist in an assent to ab- 
stract and often most metaphysical dogmas. Why 
have not councils framed confessions of morals as 
well as of faith ? And who can doubt that much of 
the false religion in the churches is to be traced to 
this fact, that theology, and not piety, the reception 
of certain abstruse tenets, and not the reception of 
Christ, has been made the test of conversion and the 
bond of fellowship? It is the privilege, as it must 
be the delight, of every Christian, to go directly to 
Jesus and learn of him ; and whether it be priest 
or church or creed that dares to interfere, he ought 
to spurn the usurpation. It is the substitution of 
human articles for the word of God, which has 
darkened the counsels of heaven, and still perpetu- 
ates party spirit, and strife, and confusion." Here 
now we perceive that on every side is felt, not only 
"the impolicy, but the injustice, of imposing restraints 
upon perfect liberty of religious thought. Against 



408 



THE CHURCH OP THE FUTURE. 



intolerance, and favoring the largest charity, you have 
the combined voice of some of the most powerful 
minds in every prominent church organization, both 
Protestant and Roman Catholic. The Protestant 
bishop and the Roman Catholic bishop, — the Pres- 
byterian, the Methodist, and Baptist, — unite in pro- 
nouncing mental liberty and universal charity the 
essentials of a Christian faith, and all restraints as 
tending to perpetuate ignorance, hypocrisy, and im- 
morality. 

We discover that whatever men say as sectarians, 
whatever they do as champions of systems, or de- 
fenders of organizations, whose authority they have 
been taught from infancy to recognize, when men 
speak as men, their voice is one, their sympathies, 
their hearts are one. When unbiassed and forgetful 
of associations, we see those of every church and 
creed, both by their utterances and their acts, testify- 
ing to the consciousness of a common nature, of 
common wants, common efforts, and common hopes, 
all declaring a common relationship, children of the 
same Father, worshippers of the same God. 

Is nothing signified by this kind and degree of 
unity ? Does it amount to nothing, that the most 
devoted and distinguished advocates of opposing 
theories and denominations, when speaking freely, 
unfettered by prejudice, their individual sentiments, 
stand upon one platform, proclaiming with an un- 
broken voice the right of individual thought, the re- 
sponsibility of the mind for its convictions to the 
Creator, the Supreme, alone, — has this no meaning ? 

Does it indicate nothing, that when they forget " 
their several churches, and the fixed limits of their 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 



409 



creeds, we find men, ministers of every sect, Prot- 
estant and Roman, defending the same spiritual 
freedom, toiling for the same spiritual knowledge, 
and longing for the same spiritual sympathy ? from 
all this is there nothing to be inferred ? 

These unquestioned and unquestionable facts are 
not destitute of meaning. They point us back- 
ward to the errors of the past, and they lead us 
forward hopefully toward a brighter future. They 
point us backward to the history of religions, 
wherein we discover that one of the first duties — 
for it has been esteemed a duty — of parents and 
teachers has been, not to place the child's mind in 
a position and under influences, simply to develop 
the powers with which God has endowed it, — to ed- ♦ 
ucate, draw out its faculties, leaving them as far as 
possible free to seize upon and appropriate whatever 
might be congenial to its constitution, necessary to 
its growth and life, — but to indoctrinate it, and in- 
struct it in forms and faiths, essential, as it was 
taught, to its eternal welfare ; and, having unfolded 
and impressed the mind thus far, to treat it like a 
pet lamb, or a pet bear, — tie it with a string or 
chain, as the strength of the one or the other might 
be needed, and keep it for ever perambulating in the 
circle which its chain described. Sometimes the pet 
has drawn and drawn to its utmost limits, till the 
string has snapped, or the chain has broken, and, the 
centrifugal being so much stronger than the centripe- 
tal motion, it has passed utterly beyond the reach of 
its first friends, into a chaos of rayless, moonless 
scepticism, naturally avoiding, with scrupulous care, 
the orderly prison from which it has escaped, — 
35 



410 THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 

wandering coldly, suspiciously, and alone, not even 
seeking for the orderly freedom and sympathy which 
it might enjoy. 

But the facts of common thought and feeling, 
which we have been regarding, refer us not only 
backward, — they also point us forward to a better 
time to come. These longings after common free- 
dom of the mind have been blown abroad on every 
wind, till the very air is pregnant with their influ- 
ence. These common longings after spiritual sym- 
pathy have given themselves shape, and taken to 
themselves an abode in the current literature of the 
age and the enlightened world. A sense of kindred 
interests and kindred hopes — despite all efforts, and 
these are neither few nor feeble, to keep them divid- 
ed and distrustful — is drawing men closer to each 
other. 

The churches indeed are busy enough in repair- 
ing the breaches in the old walls by which the flocks 
have been fenced in ; but it avails little, — for every 
train of steam-cars shakes down as much stone and 
mortar as the Sunday-preaching builds. Every flash 
along ten thousand electric wires rejoins and mends 
the threads of the cord of human sympathy as rapid- 
ly as the fires of ten thousand pulpits can consume 
and separate them. 

No, no; the letter has had its day, and still has 
power ; but it has swayed a kingly sceptre long 
enough, and the spirit now takes its seat too upon 
the throne. The little bodies baptized with the 
Christian name have had their period of sovereignty, 
and now the e^arth-wide, heaven-born soul of Chris- 
tianity is to have its day of power. The Catholic 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 



411 



Christian Spiritual Church has its foundations al- 
ready laid, its broad and beautiful proportions are 
just rising into view, attracting the attention of ob- 
servers. The Church of the Future is born, and, in a 
healthy infancy, is growing well beneath the mater- 
nal care of the humane and liberal spirit of the age. 

Yes ; the Church of the Future, which is to hold in 
its wide embrace all true spirits, with every natural 
diversity of mind, as necessary as the natural diver- 
sities of body. The same law recognized in material 
is to be recognized in spiritual things. The same 
element by which men are joined in promoting the 
general outward comfort, is joining men in the pro- 
motion of inward religious sympathy. Men can co- 
operate in the cultivation of benevolence, and every 
generous emotion, and they begin to feel that, after 
all, this is co-operation in unfolding the religious 
sentiment. The natural sun shines down, as they 
perceive, on every variety of soil, and every variety 
of bodily formation, and a similar vapory sacrifice 
ascends from all ; and men begin to feel that the same 
spiritual sun shines down, upon human souls as va- 
ried, — and a spontaneous warmth may send up a 
similar incense of grateful worship to the Fountain 
of life and the Centre of all good. It is true that 
among the less hopeful and less liberal in all the 
church divisions now, may be discerned a more stren- 
uous opposition to free thought and common sym- 
pathy than has been witnessed for a generation past. 
Bat this only evinces the consciousness of a new 
element which has found its way into the systems, 
a new tendency at variance with the old order. 

The tree of human brotherhood, which Jesus trans- 



412 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 



planted from its narrow nursery in Palestine into the 
unfenced garden of the world, though by mistaken 
husbandmen it has been tied down and dwarfed, 
and the dew and sunshine of love shut out by ec- 
clesiastic coverings, h.as still been growing, and now 
has reached a growth so stately, that it can no longer 
be kept in the hot-house of a single church ; its roots 
have deepened, and its trunk has strengthened, and its 
boughs expanded, till it rejoices in the light and heat 
and showers of heaven itself, and sweet birds are 
singing in its foliage, and men are beginning to en- 
joy its refreshing and delicious fruits. 

The triumph coming is not to be a triumph of 
your, nor of mine, nor of any man's opinions, — not 
the domination of a party or a creed : but a reign of 
the same harmonious spirit in religious life which 
now reigns in social life. This faith rests on no fanci- 
ful foundation, it is no theory, but, as we have seen, 
the only reasonable induction from indisputable facts; 
the sentiments and aspirations which we see exist- 
ing, and have found expressed, by the best minds of 
every sect, must be embodied. They must be real- 
ized. 

The religious world to come is to resemble the 
natural world now, united in diversity. The Church 
of the Future is to resemble God's creation of the 
present. In the natural temple for God's worship, 
we see united and prospering together, trees of every 
species, leaves of every shape, and petals of every 
hue, and voices of every tone, — each and all pro- 
tected by the same capacious dome, and adorned by 
the same celestial drapery. 

In the future of Christianity, the Church to come 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 413 

will be found embracing and protecting minds of 
every capacity, men of every people, perceptions 
of every variety, the individuality of each preserved, 
every one making up the complement of all, diver- 
sity perfecting unity, every heart grateful in its own 
powers, and every voice in its own tone joining in 
the great harmony of eternal worship. 



THE END. 



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